Hunters' Rules
by hakuna-matataa
Summary: Kasey is the typical nobody. She's lived at Camp all her life and still doesn't know much. But after a very life-changing Christmas, she starts to explore life's luxuries. Like her own family, life-long friends and...love? First takes place in TTC.
1. Introduction

The frost beneath my bare feet felt somehow strangely relaxing. I didn't feel like putting on my Converse this morning even though it's winter. My feet were cold, but I'd gotten used to it.

I've always liked walking around camp just to notice and discover new things. The only problem was I've walked around so many times that everything has been noticed already. So today I was walking with my head down. I stared at my little toes that were starting to turn red with every step I took.

I finally got myself to take attention off of my feet and look around. I saw a few kids having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs just before the start of the forest. I also noticed Travis and Connor from my cabin trying to break-in to the camp's store; again. I sighed. It's always the same thing every day. The only thing that changes is the color of Mr. D's skin after he sneaks away during the campfires.

Let me give you a small description. My name is Kasey Gray. I'm twelve years old. I'm one of the few year-rounders here at Camp Half-Blood. I've been here since I was only a few months old according to Chiron. I don't know where I'm from and I don't know who either of my parents are. Seems like a nice life, right? Being able to spend your whole life training to fight monsters, living years with your friends, and, best of all, no parents to tell you what to do and what not to do.

But think about it this way: spending your whole life training to fight monsters, even though you almost never actually get the chance to, living your whole life with acquaintances because your too shy to make any real life-long friends except one who isn't here in the winter, and, worst of all, not knowing who anybody in your family is, including your parents. This is the story of my life.

My thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Kasey, I would like to speak with you."

I looked up and saw Chiron on the porch of the Big House in his wheelchair form. His eyes were soft but serious.

I nodded and fallowed him inside to the rec room where we held all the important meetings. He gestured for me to sit down by the ping-pong table. He wheeled up across from me. His eyes looked more worried than serious now. I looked down.

After about a minute of awkward silence, I decided to speak up.

"So, err… Is something wrong?" I asked nervously.

He shrugged. "I should be asking you the same question."

I looked up and lifted an eyebrow.

"Kasey," he said concerned. "This is the fourth day in a row that I've seen you just walking around alone."

I opened my mouth to tell him that I've been walking alone for a lot longer than that, but I quickly closed my mouth on second thought.

"I apologize for poking into your business but it's not hard to notice."

I shrugged.

"So, _is_ there something wrong?"

I was about to answer when I was interrupted by a loud splash and some naiads screaming for their lives. I looked out the window towards Camp Half-Blood's canoe lake, startled to find a van that had fallen from the sky.

"Chiron," I said nervously. "You might want to see this."

He quickly wheeled up next to me. For a little while we just stared, until finally I looked over and saw him grinning. He excused himself and wheeled out onto the porch.

No more pointless walks through camp, no more hiding in cabin #11 to escape pointless training. My life was about to change. I could feel it.

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**This is my first story. I have a feeling I know where its going but i don't know if I should keep going. Opinions&comments would be very helpful ! Thanks ! (: -kenna**


	2. Dear Diary

_Dear Diary,_

_I decided to fill the journal that Connor and Travis "bought" for me and everyone else in my cabin a while ago. They got it for me when I was just learning how to write. I never thought that I'd use it but I needed to tell someone (or something) about what happened today._

_Today…wasn't normal. In fact, it kind of scared me a bit. A van (which turned out to be Apollo's sun-car) crashed into Canoe Lake. I didn't even know who was inside of it and, all of a sudden, I got this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Like… Like I was supposed to talk to them or something. I've never felt that was before so I couldn't exactly tell what was going on or what I was supposed to do… So I did what my gut told me to do; I ran into my cabin and screamed into my pillow, not caring what anyone thought about me. I needed my comfort bubble back around me and that's all I could think of to get me back there… Maybe not the only or best option, but it worked. For a little while._

_Anyway, at dinner I asked Chiron about what happened. I guess that the legendary son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson, daughter of Zeus, Thalia, and Grover the satyr came back before they planned. Along for the ride were an undetermined half-blood and about a dozen or so Hunters of Artemis. Artemis set off to hunt alone and daughter of Athena, Annabeth, is missing. He said that Thalia is upset and unfortunately convinced that she is truly gone… But even I know that Percy likes Annabeth, (like, like like!) so of course he won't give up. It's inspiring how much he likes her._

_But it's what happened after dinner that REALLY scared the hell out of me… It started when I ditched capture the flag. The Reason? I'm not a sword kind of person… or a bow-and-arrow girl. Or a spear chick. I see myself as a "make peace, not war" kind of person. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm more of a "Just stay out of the way" type of person. Girl. Chick. Whatever… Anyways, I was walking with the group but was able to slip away into the Big House. I still like watching, so I went to my secret hide-out room which is just an old room on the third floor that nobody bothers to use anymore. Not even Chiron knows about it. I've made it kind of my own space recentally. It's still infested with spiders, but it has a small view of the playing field, so I like to watch the events from it when I can. Basically, what I could see at first was the remaining campers on the blue team and the Hunters of Artemis on the red team. I could see Chiron yelling out to all the kids. "Heroes! You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. Blue team-Camp Half-Blood- shall take the west woods. Hunters of Artemis-Red Team- shall take the east woods. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. No intentional maiming please! All magic items are allowed. To your positions!" he directed. The part about 'no intentional maiming' has always scared me... Even when I'm not playing. I saw each team huddling; figuring out who was going to do what. I was usually stuck with "alarm duty" where you call out to the captains if someone from the other team was about to cross the creek. Another reason that I don't play with them anymore. One of my favorite parts of watching the game, is the start. It's dead quiet with the kids concentrating. Then the horn blows and a HUGE wave of kids battle cries erupt. But today with the smaller group, it wasn't as good as it usually it. For most of the game, all I could hear was screaming and swords clashing. At times, kids would come back far enough and I could watch them fight. Those are some other enjoyable times. But I always have to be alert to make sure nobody would see me. It was turning out to be a pretty nice night, so I opened the window just far enough for me to poke my head out. _

_I was doing pretty well with relaxing. Usually I'm always on my toes to make sure nobody were to see me. But tonight, I was strangly calm. I didn't care if anyone saw me or what would happen if they did. The stars were out, the moon was half full and the house was quiet. At least I thought it was. I was resting my head on my arms on the windowsill when I heard something unusual. I could already tell that it wasn't coming from the field. It was closer. I turned around, and passing by the door, was the Oracle. I could already tell because the Oracle is the only dressed mummy within a while from here… or probably ever. I rushed to the door, not knowing where I got that courage from, just to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Sadly, my assumption was correct. I stood just on the inside of the door while I watched the Oracle move slowly and... spiritually, i guess, down the stairs. I guess it-she?- senced my presents because it turned its head around. Like, JUST its head! I've never seen the Oracle before because I've never been sent out on a quest. To see it for the first time is probably really creepy. But to see it for the first time, ALIVE, and Mist creeping around its feet, it was too much. The last thing I heard before I passed out was girls screaming. But I didn't know if it was campers/Hunters in victory, or me in horror…_

_I woke up in the infirmary earlier and, judged by the moon and the other injured/sleeping campers, I guessed that it was around one in the morning. I really needed to get this small story out somehow, and then I remembered you. So I snuck out of the house, across camp, and now I'm here on my bunk, writing in you with only a flashlight and the dim moon to see, and no one else in my cabin to wake. I used to love being alone, but now I kind of miss the super-crowded cabin that comes around three months a year. The other nine, I'm on my own unless another demigod is found, or someone from my cabin decides to stay year-round like me. Not like i have a choice- this camp is all I have. I don't know why this huge change scared me so much. I don't know if it's from fear from something so different, but I don't think it is. I've gone through multiple-kids-coming-at-once lots of times. So I'm thinking that it's something deeper than that... I still can't put a name to that feeling that I had earlier. Hopefully, I'll think of it. I needed to tell someone (or something) about what happened today... And it had to be someone who I knew would understand. I just hope tomorrow will be at least a little bit back to normal… Just a little. _

_Write in you soon,_

_Kasey Brooklynn Gray_

I quietly closed my diary and placed it under my pillow for safe keeping. I set my head down on my pillow and stared out the window towards the moon. The moon has such a great life. It gets to peacfully watch over the people of the world sleep without any difficulties or worries. It has no questions to answer and no problems to solve. It only has one job and thats to not worry. All I wanted was for tomorrow to be back to the boring, eventless normal that I'm used to. Little did I know that my wish wasn't going to come true. Not. At. All.

* * *

** A little corny, I know(: but how do you guys like it ? This chapter is a little short but it's just suppost to be a diary entry so... comments? -kenna**


	3. Curiosity Isn't Always Good

I woke up to a knock on my door. The sun was blasting through my window so I knew it must have been kind of late. I propped myself up on one elbow and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes with the other hand. I didn't want to keep my guest waiting so I grabbed my fluffy, purple robe and got up. Standing up made me dizzy and the ground was cold and hard. Not the best start to my morning. I wasn't surprised to find Chiron standing at my door in full horse form. I looked up best that I could, my eyes still squinting from the light.

"Hello Kasey. May I come in?" I shrugged and nodded then turned around to grab my brush. When I turned back around to look at him, he was sitting in his wheelchair as if he was there before. I was about to ask him how he does that so quickly, but I let it go. I sat down on my bed and started to brush my knotted hair. "I was hoping that we could both tell our sides of the story from last night, and then we can fill each other in as we go. Okay?"

I was _dying_ to know what all happened last night. It would at least answer a few of my questions. So I shrugged again and agreed. "Okay," he said once again. "So, where should we start?"

I pursed my lips. "How about from dinner?" I suggested.

"Good idea. So, as you know, Annabeth is missing. But what you probably don't know is that, Lady Artemis is too."

I gasped. "What?" I choked out. "Lady Artemis is missing? How could she be gone? She's a goddess for Zeus's sake!"

"That's what I thought to," he said to the floor. "But then Zoë Nightshade, the leader of the Hunter's of Artemis, had… a nightmare last night." I knew what that meant. I've never actually had a half-blood nightmare before but I've heard stories of campers waking up screaming because of them. I must just be lucky.

"About?" I asked.

"About," he replied. "Artemis being… tortured." He struggled to get the last word out. As he stared out the window, I was shocked. _How could Artemis be gone? How could she be being tortured? _

To me, it didn't add up. "Again, why can't she just escape?"

"I don't know, Kasey," he sighed then continued to explain all about Zoë's dream, what happened at Capture the Flag, then to the Oracle coming to life-I winced at that part-, and up to Zoë, Thalia, Grover and Bianca leaving on the quest of "The Titan's Curse" as he called it. He also suspected that Percy was going to sneek out and go as well. I wasn't surprised by that either. "Now, the main reason that I came here to talk to you is to get your side of last night."

I sighed. "Where should I start?"

"Here: Where were you during Capture the Flag last night?"

A simple question that's _really _hard to answer. I hate those kinds of questions. "I was…err…" I figure that I wasn't going to come up with a good excuse before he knew I was lying. I sighed. "I ditched." He didn't look surprised.

"I knew that but where, specifically?"

"I would think that you would know. Otherwise I wouldn't have woken up in the infirmary." I stared at him as to say, _How did that happen anyway?_

"I guess I didn't tell you everything from my side," he admitted. "I actually asked a few Hunters to look for you. They found you passed out on the floor and took you to the infirmary."

"Ohh," I replied. I was slightly embarrassed that it happened that way.

"Now I have a question for you." I looked at him and he captured my eyes. "What made you faint?" He asked it as though he already knew the answer, which he probably did. I just gave him half of the truth.

"When the Oracle passed by the door, I just got freaked out."

He stared into my eyes a little deeper. "Well I have to go get lunch set up. So when you're ready to tell me the whole truth, I'll be there." He added a grin just to lighten the tension that I felt in the room. He left me there while I heard the lunch horn sound. I realized that I've been brushing the same spot in my hair throughout our whole conversation. I brushed the rest of my hair quickly and slipped on some sweats and my Converse before I headed towards mess hall.

I was dragging my feet towards lunch when I realized that I still had a headache from last night. The cool air helped that but the tension that I felt floating in the air didn't make it much better. Everything was… sadder, and quieter than usual. I heard some moans and even some crying coming from the left over Hunters. I didn't blame them. I'm not even a Hunter and I feel almost... empty. It was weird.

I guess I was late for lunch because I was still walking when Chiron made an announcement. "Your attention please, campers and Hunters! I would like to inform you that we have four new campers!" Everything died down until it was perfectly silent. "Two of them came in with Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace, named Bianca and Nico Di Angelo, two days ago. Today, we have two more coming in. Our own satyr, Daniel Mason, was able to retrieve them safely. I just got a Iris message from Daniel saying that they're alright and will be here soon. So please be welcoming and friendly to our new campers. Now let's eat!" A few cheers escaped the lips of the few campers from the hall but most kept silent in fear of what the Hunters would do if they were happy at the moment.

I didn't even realize that I had stopped walking to listen to the announcement, but then I was glad that I did.

Up on the hill by "Thalia's Tree" and the Big House was a young boy. From what I could tell, he was about seven or eight years old with dark hair. He looked extremely scared-probably from monsters that were fallowing them. I took a few steps closer to observe him some more. He had bright blue eyes and a stumpy nose as well, and maybe even younger than seven. He was holding something that looked soft. It also was kind of shiny. My curiosity led me even closer to him. He looked like he was having great difficulties trying to keep it in his arms because of the weight of it. I felt kind of bad for him. _Poor little guy. Too bad that he's not even strong enough to hold up a— _I stopped thinking right then. My heart was pounding in my ears and my hands turned really sweaty. The thing that he was holding… glowed. I quickly looked over at Thalia's tree. Nothing. That little boy was holding the Golden Flee—

Again, I didn't get to finish my thought because at that moment, a hellhound sprang out from the ground, like, _right _through the ground, followed quickly by another one. I realized what was happening and jumped out of the way of they're landing. I landed on the grass but still got some wind knocked out of me because I landed directly on my back. I sat up as best as I could and got a good look at them. Glowing red eyes, semi-transparent skin but still as black as night, and the worst smell that's ever passed my nose; death. Before I could observe anymore, the first one pounced. I rolled out of its way, just barely missing its claws that were dripping with neon-green glop. _Poison, _I concluded. I stood up as fast as I could and started running towards mess hall. I wasn't too far away, but if you've ever tried to outrun a hellhound, it's not easy. I dove off to the right, letting the hellhounds skid past, trying to keep up. It bought me some time, but not much. I couldn't really see where I was going but I didn't care. I was just trying to get out of being dog food. Adrenaline kicked in and I sprinted forward, ending up right outside the clearing where we train. I was almost there when my foot caught an unsuspecting root and I went tumbling forward. I made it to the clearing, but not in the way that I wanted. If my headache ever went away, it came back.

The hellhounds were still right behind be so I dove off to the side again. They ran right past me but couldn't stop fast enough. One went tumbling down into the ocean while the other skidded just off the side. Its poisoned claws were still imbedded into the ground and able to keep itself from completely falling. I got up, which made me kind of dizzy, while I watched it struggle to get its back legs up without falling. In the distance I heard many running feet and some hooves patting against the ground, coming to my side. I could still hear it when the hellhound swung itself up. It growled at me, and then pounced without warning.

"Kasey!" I heard Chiron scream before he tossed a jet-black sword my way. Don't ask me how I caught it perfectly in my right hand, but I did. I decided just to use what I had and slashed at the beast before it could get to me. I still wasn't a sword person, but I guess that I used it pretty well judging by the deep cut that I made across its left eye. I ran around to its back side while it blinked a few times and let out, not just a bark, but a roar that could've popped my eardrums if I hadn't covered them—which I did. I heard campers and Hunters coming up behind me, but the hellhound completely ignored me for those few seconds, jumped right over my head without damaging it, and landed on almost a few kids. Thank the gods that they got out of the way.

"He doesn't want us to help!" a new demigod—Nico?—screamed over the roar of the hellhound.

"How would you know!" a Hunter screamed back.

"I can just tell! It even says on his trading card that these kinds of dogs don't like humans!" was his brilliant response.

"Listen to Nico-" I thought so, "—and let Kasey deal with it!" Chiron screamed to the others.

"WHAT!" I screamed in shock.

"You can do it Kasey! I _know _you can!" He encouraged.

Once all the campers and Hunters backed up behind Chiron, the hellhound turned back around towards me with a devilish snarl. I took slow steps back.

My palms were almost too sweaty to hold onto the sword, my knees were buckling, and if my head pounded anymore, it would explode. I double-handed my sword and kept it in front of me.

Everything went dead silent.

I was still taking small steps back before my foot hit a root. I looked over my shoulder and realized at that I was on the other side of the clearing already. My heart was pounding so hard, I bet that Lord Zeus could've heard it up on Mount Olympus.

The hellhound had its bad eye closed but it was still staring right through me, sending chills up my spine. Chiron had a serious but confident look on his face while everyone else looked worried sick. I was _literally_ worried sick. I felt like I was about to puke.

Everything stood still for a few more seconds until one of the Hunters broke the silence. "Come on camper, you can do it!" The other Hunters seemed to pick up on the encouraging comments and soon, the only people who were still quiet were Chiron and I. The hellhound slightly turned towards the cheering, growled, then turned its attention back to me. I suddenly got a blast of courage, but it wasn't from the cheering. In the corner of my eye, I saw the little boy who grabbed the Golden Fleece. Another boy about my age, maybe a little older came up behind him. He must the fourth new camper. I had to try and make it seem like this thing wasn't about to kill me. The little boy would be scarred for life thinking that it was his fault. _Even if it will be. _No. I couldn't let myself think that way. I raised my sword up in front of my face and squinted. I was—hopefully—ready whenever it-he?- was.

I guess he was. He jumped twenty-five feet in the air and landed right where I would have been if I hadn't moved out of the way. I took a quick slash at his side, but nothing happened. He knocked his head right into me and I went flying right into the trunk of a tree. I gasped for breath for a few seconds then ran deeper into the woods, right past the two new boys. My insides were on fire.

"Sorry!" I screamed at them as I ran, though I didn't really have a point. The hellhound finally gathered its thoughts and took off after me. I took some shortcuts and some pointless turns but I kept running. My head was hurting more than before, but I kept running. My legs felt like they were on fire as well, but I kept running. I had to think of a plan before I collapsed from exhaustion. _Its skin is too tough to slice, but I was able to scratch its eye. _Then it came to me. I was in the thickest part of the forest now so I was able to hide behind a tree while the hellhound tried to pick up my scent. But there have been _so _many campers here for Capture the Flag that it couldn't tell the scents apart. I found a big tree and carefully slid around the trunk to keep it from seeing me. I was trying to keep my panting breath quiet, but it wasn't easy.

I was sliding to my left while watching the hound out of the corner of my eye when, _SNAP._ I stepped on a twig. It's amazing how loud a twig breaking can seem in silence. It wasn't very loud, but it being this quiet, it was enough to get the beast charging at my tree. I sprinted off in the direction of the clearing again, just barely missing the claws of the hound. If there weren't any trees to run around, I would be very dead at the moment. Thank you, Pan for nature. I was breathing just as heavy, if not _harder_, than I was before. I broke through the trees to find Chiron and the crew still standing there. I was amazed that they stood there for so long. I was out in the woods for about ten minutes or so. Chiron must have known. The campers and Hunters broke out in cheers until the hellhound blasted through the trees as well, at full speed. I took my stance but it wasn't good enough; the hound plowed into me and knocking us both to the ground. I was underneath him while he nearly sat on me. My sword was still grasped in my hand so I took the chance. I stabbed it as hard as I could up into its stomach. It howled with pain and fell onto its side, but it was too close to the edge. He tumbled over the edge nearly taking me with him. I was just able to grab the edge of the cliff with one of my hands, but my sword went downas well. I was dangling by one arm over the ocean. I started hyperventilating.

I tried to pull up my left arm to hold on, but the moment I even moved it, I screamed bloody murder with pain. I looked down and saw the neon green poison mixed with blood in a huge cut down my arm. The hellhound got me after all. "Oh, shit," I gasped out, then continued panting.

Chiron probably knew that it was time to help out when he heard me scream. He and the rest of the campers rushed to my safety without touching my left arm too much. But when they did, I either winched or let a small scream escape my lips. I was gasping for breath and wanting to stab my head from how much it hurt, but, at the same time, I did it. I defeated two hellhounds. The campers and Hunters had another round of cheering which made my head hurt even more. I noticed the Hunter who started the encouraging cheering in the first place on my right and the older new boy on my left.

"Do you think so, Chiron?" the Hunter asked.

"That's _your _choice, Lilly." He replied.

And that's all I remember before I was screaming and crying out for help.


	4. First Nightmare

I woke up with liquid strawberries dipped in chocolate running down my throat. I was so out of it that I didn't think about why I tasted them until I was trying to drink more. And more.

"Whoa," somebody said. "That's enough of that, or you might die." They chuckled.

My eyes struggled to open. When they decided to cooperate, I was staring at the ceiling of the infirmary. From what I could hear, nobody else was in there with me, except for Chiron. He was in his wheelchair at the side of my bed holding a cup with the Nectar of the Gods in it.

My heart was beating wildly in my head and my left arm felt like it was on fire. My legs were kind of sore too. My arm was wrapped up and in a sling that was resting on top of me and the back of my head had some gauze on it. I felt like hell and I'm sure I looked like it too.

"How are you feeling?" was Chiron's brilliant question. I glared at him like a snob, hoping that it would answer his question. "Ah, yes. Well...err…with a lot of rest and a little Ambrosia and Nectar, you'll be back to…err…training in a few days. Maybe walking by tomorrow." He ended his shaky sentence with a forced grin. It looked unreal and cheesy.

I tried to sit up but accidentally put too much weight on my left arm. I winced with pain. Chiron saw my struggle and said, "Relax for a while. You lost a lot of blood and energy. Whatever poison that was drained almost all you stamina and agility. I was surprised that he was able to cure you in time." He mumbled the last part to himself but I was still able to hear it.

"'He'?" My voice was hoarse and my throat was dry. It hurt to swallow my own spit. Chiron handed me a glass with a bendy straw. I sucked some of it down. Just regular water. I gulped the rest down to cure my Sahara-like throat. That's when I got mad. I've always felt useless but nowI _really _did. I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"He'll probably come in and talk to you later. He wanted to give you some time to rest. But there _is_ somebody else who wants to see you." I raised an eyebrow. "But first, I should tell you a few things. Like, for one, the campers got back from the quest and it was a total success. Artemis and Annabeth are both alive and well." I let out a breath of relief. "But that's the thing. _Only _the campers." I caught my breath again. "Zoë Nightshade and Bianca Di Angelo, the top two Hunters, we're killed on the trip." I gasped. What hurt me the most about him saying that is that he said it with no compassion. Like, it's not a surprise that they were killed. But to him, it probably wasn't.

"How?" I asked with my throat still a little dry.

"The other Hunters would rather have me not talk about it. But there are a few good things out of this. Thalia Grace has joined the Hunters and Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are back safe and sound." He smiled, I grinned. I was still in shock that they were killed. I mean, I was use to getting the news that one of the campers was killed on a quest, but I always thought that Hunters were stronger than that.

I stared at the floor. "Anything else, Chiron?" I asked, emotionless.

"Yes. Actually two things." He placed some Ambrosia and the Nectar on the table next to my bed. "Be careful with that stuff. You know what can happen." I could burn into ashes and die. Lovely. "Now, the second thing is Merry Christmas Eve." He smiled at me then rolled out of the room. _Christmas Eve? Already? _I thought to myself. I guess I wasn't keeping track of the dates before this.

I also didn't realize how tired I was until I totally relaxed back on my pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I never considered myself to be the normal kind of demigod. I didn't like to train, I don't know who my parent(s) is/are and I've never had a demigod kind of dream. Usually if I can remember my dreams, they're filled with some kids from my cabin or Chiron or Capture the Flag or a combination of the three. Until now.

I was standing on what looked like a marble floor. I was in a huge room. The biggest room you could ever imagine. Take the size of a football field and double that. That's about how big this place was. It was more like a hall. All of it was white pillars, white marble floors, and white walls. The ceiling though, was a glass dome that let you see the sky. Twelve thrones were shaped into a semi-circle in the middle of the room, but they were all different. One was wrapped in grape vines while one was a classic fisherman's chair. There was a giant fire crackling in a hearth in the middle of them. _Olympus_, I concluded.

I jumped when a man wearing a pinpoint striped suit and a well-trimmed beard bursted through the ceiling-tall entry doors behind me. _Lord Zeus. _I ran out of his way and hid behind a column in fear that he might see me. When he didn't, I relaxed remembering that I was invisible to everyone else.

Zeus literally stormed his way to his solid platinum throne. With every step he took, strong static electricity would zap under his feet and Olympus would shake. When he approached his throne, he grew into a fifteen foot tall man and took a seat. I widened my eyes. His face was strong and serious. He looked very mad as well. He raised his hand and suddenly his very own Bolt appeared in it. He gripped it hard then stomped the bottom of it hard on the ground. Hundreds of watts of lightning shot through the floor. I jumped up onto the column and braced for the worst. The lightning only skidded across the floor but didn't travel up the columns and I silently thanked him for that or else I would be a cabob right now.

"Brothers and Sisters! I call a meeting to Mount Olympus!" Zeus screamed out. His voice was sonic and powerful with leadership naturally in it. I couldn't tell what his voice sounded like beyond that because I was covering my ears as tight as I could to keep from becoming deaf. Even in dreams, you still have the same senses that you do when you're awake. **(a/n: I would think so in demigod world, so I put it(: ) **Gods and goddesses quickly spilled into the hall and took a seat on their thrones. The air suddenly felt a lot thicker. More… overwhelming. I felt as if I was more important to be in the presents of all twelve gods at once.

"Father," A goddess with long, dark brown hair and stormy grey eyes, Athena, without a doubt, said. "What is wrong? This isn't our usual meeting day."

"Yes, daughter, I know. But we have a problem involving one of the demigods," Zeus nearly growled.

They all seemed to come to an understanding as if Zeus sent a message to all of their minds.

"She's mine," Another goddess with auburn hair and a silver jacket said standing up. _Lady Artemis._

"No," Athena stated and then stood up as well. "She's mine."

"Actually," A third goddess said who was so beautiful that all I could describe was her throne—red velvet. "She's mine." Aphrodite grinned and slowly stood up as well.

The three goddesses glared at each other which filled the air with tension which made the overwhelming air seem like an open field in summer.

Without a warning, every god and goddess stood up and started arguing and taking sides just like you would see in a dramatic movie—all are screaming over each other and trying to get their opinion out. I was still grasping the column with my eyes wide with fear. Now the tension turned to heat and chills at the same time. Hephaestus and Ares were, of course, siding with Aphrodite while Apollo was siding with Artemis. Athena and Poseidon were screaming their heads off at each other but I'm sure that was nothing new. The only god who wasn't arguing was Zeus who just looked over the head of the others, glaring at what had happened.

"SILENCE!" Zeus ordered. But his scream was useless. That was the first time that I've ever heard about—or in this case, seen—the gods _ignoring_ Zeus.

Zeus's Bolt suddenly grew another few feet in his hand. He threw the bolt straight upward, through the glass dome roof and into the sky where it exploded into a lightning storm.

* * *

I sat upright to the sound of a lightning bolt echo in the distance. I was breathing heavily and my head was spinning. That's when I thought of something. _Who's 'she'?_

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**I had some _major_ writers block while typing this chapter, so I hope I was able to pull something together. Keep reading cause i guarentee that the next chapter will be where it gets good(: comments would be helpful ! -kenna**


	5. The Miracles of Christmas

**I told you that things were about to get more exciting, so here's one of the chapter that will take place on Christmas ! & here's a recommendation just to get more in the mood of this chapter: even though its summer, when Kasey is listening to Christmas music, you should too ! I was listening to it which really helped me type this chapter(: .com/watch?v=MUCmY7SlqHQ&feature=related & I forgot a disclaimer so, I don't own any character that I didn't make up, blah blah blah... now, enjoy!**

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I couldn't go back to sleep after my dream. I felt like—actually, I knew that—if I went back to sleep, I would have more nightmares and I bet that they'd be even worse. I wasn't in the mood for that and I don't think I ever will be, thank you.

I didn't know what time it was and, to tell you the truth, didn't really care. I threw off my covers and tried to stand up. Both of my legs started to fall asleep from not moving for so long and I got a brain rush from sitting up so fast. What slightly relieved me was that my arm wasn't throbbing with pain like it was before I felt asleep, or boiling with heat like it was at first. It was just simmering now. But still enough that I grabbed the Ambrosia that Chiron left on my bedside table and started nibbling on it. I was about to gulp it down in one bite so that I could taste more of the cheesecake drenched in chocolate sauce **(a/n : If you haven't already noticed, I love chocolate(: )**, but I would rather not be turned into a pile of ashes, especially on Christmas. _Christmas? _I thought to myself as I realized the date. _Christmas!_

I slowly stood up to glance outside. As I stood, the invisible needles kept poking at my feet, but I ignored them. My ankle was more sore than the rest of my legs, but it didn't hurt enough not to walk on it. I slowly glided over to the window of the infirmary and looked outside. Well, I had to rub away frost on the window with the sleeve of my pajamas—which I'm guessing they changed me into—before I could get a good look—which was weird because we never have frost on the windows because of Mr. D's choice to keep sno—oh. My. Gods.

Snow. And not just the light flakes that cover the ground. I'm talking at least seven inches of snow. It wasn't as much as other places probably get **(a/n : but we Minnesotians' embrace the cold ! Until we want it to go away… haha(: ), **but it was enough to make me ignore all my pain and run outside like a little six year-old does on Christmas morning. I was only wearing socks so my feet were cold and wet before I knew it. So I raced back inside, slipped on my Converse—that were also there—and ran right back out, not wanting to miss a second of the view.

While I was enjoying winter, I was noticing other things as well. Like how it was probably around three-thirty in the morning or so. The sky was still dark and there were thin clouds over the camp sending down more and more flakes of frozen water. I giggled to myself and thanked Hermes. The Big House was decorated with yellow, glowing lights that lit up most of camp. They have been up for a few days now, but today, they're brighter than ever. Even the cabins were lit up. Zeus' and Hera's were covered neatly with white lights that glowed with passion. Apollo's was loaded up with colored lights surrounding the cabin itself and the seven foot tall Christmas tree on top of it. Athena's was covered with red and green lights. Classic, but still beautiful. Aphrodite's was covered with red and pink lights that, even though too girly for me, gave me the feeling of hope and love just by looking at them. Even the Ares cabin was celebrating with some red and white lights thrown onto the gutters and roof. Not the best way to decorate, but at least I know now that Ares has a soft spot for Christmas. Now that I think about it, the gods celebrating God. Ironic.

The rest of the cabins were decorated appropriately depending on the god or goddess, except for the Artemis cabin. I was about to go see where the Hunters went when I heard snow crunching multiple times coming up behind me. I continued to stare at the gorgeous scenery that was Camp Half-Blood as the mystery person came up beside me. Or, well, I guess I shouldn't say _person._

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Chiron nearly whispered.

I nodded and grinned. I felt so…peaceful. Like the world has never fought or argued. Like everyone has looked into their hearts and found happiness. Except Kronos. He'll always be grumpy.

Chiron gave me an ear-bud from his ancient CD player and gestured for me to listen to it.

_This night_

_We pray_

_Our lives_

_Will show _

_This dream _

_He had_

_Each child_

_Still knows_

Canon in D. It's exactly what this scene needed. Beautiful background music. We stood there for what seemed like hours but I was okay with that. I swayed back and forth as he replayed it over and over again. He was probably just like me; able to listen to the same song over and over again and not get board of it.

On the song's third time around, Chiron spoke up, but kept it at a whisper so that it would ruin the moment too bad. "I told you that you would be walking by today," he whispered and added a soft smile.

"No," I corrected. "You said I _could _be walking by today. There was no guarantee in your voice." I copied his grin and looked up at him. He chuckled and I giggled for a few seconds.

"So what lead you to come outside at this hour, Kasey?" he asked curiously.

I decided not to tell him about the nightmare because I didn't want to spoil this perfect moment. "The lightning woke me up," I said quietly, which was true. I just didn't tell him that I knew why the lightning crackled in the first place. "After that I couldn't get back to sleep. Then I remembered what day it was-" I started to grin, which turned out to be more of a smile. "—and I wanted to see how we decorated this year. So I looked out the window and saw that there was snow. So I came out here to enjoy." I smiled up at him.

"Yes, I heard that lightning to. Zeus must be mad about something, but luckily it relaxed before it got too bad," he said with relief. "Also, yes, we let in the snow today. Mr. D wasn't in the best mood after a surprise god meeting. After he returned, I convinced him to let us have a white Christmas this year because, like Ares, Mr. D also has a soft spot for Christmas." Chiron smiled.

"I should be asking you the same thing," I realized and added a grin.

He chuckled. "_Touché."_

I smiled. We continued to stand there for a little longer before I droke the scilence. "The Christmas feeling hit me hard this year, Chiron." I sighed in happiness.

"Me as well, Kasey. Me as well. Would you like some early morning hot chocolate to celebrate?"

"In a little bit. If you don't mind, I would like to go admire the cabins. They're amazing!"

Chiron smiled. "Indeed they are. Actually, the gods themselves came down for a few minutes and decorated their own cabin. It was nice to catch up with each of them." He smiled in memory.

I widened my eyes and grinned slightly as if to say _Really? That's so cool!_

I pulled out my ear-bud and left Chiron standing there smiling. As I walked down to the cabins with Canon in D still playing in my head, I remembered the Artemis cabin. My happiness suddenly turned into concern.

I picked up my pace a little and turned the corner to face the Artemis cabin. What I saw filled me back up with happiness and calmness. All the Hunters were lighting classic wax candles in holders and placing them all around the cabin. I mean _literally _around the cabin. They would find the perfect place in the air around the cabin then let it go and it would just float there. I guess Artemis likes to use a little magic once in a while. The deck rails were wrapped with garland and the door had a classic wreath on it. Hanging from the roof were two burial shrouds: one was golden the words _Zo__ë Nightshade: Hero and Leader_ stitched into it in silver. The other was a shimmering black with the same silver stitching except the words _Bianca Di Angelo: Baby and Brave Huntress_.

"'Baby Huntress'?" I accidentally wondered out loud.

One of the Hunters who were "hanging" a candle above the roof turned around and noticed my curiosity. "Oh, hello Kasey." She gracefully leaped off of the roof and landed in front of me.

"You know me?" I asked.

"Well of course I do," she said as if it was very obvious. "Don't you remember?"

I took me a few seconds but finally I did remember. "You were the Huntress who helped pull me up from the cliff, weren't you?" I asked calmly.

"That's me!" She giggled. "I'm Lilly. And, if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing up at this hour? I _do _see that you're finally fully awake." She gave me a reassuring smile. I couldn't help but smile back at her. She seemed just like that kind of person who anyone would want as a friend. Her eyes were a soft green, her hair was auburn and ended at the middle of her back, a few freckles were sprinkled over her nose and cheeks. She wore an AE classic plaid coat, regular blue jeans, and a blue pom-pom hat. Her skin sent off a small glow. Not exactly a glow, but more of a shimmer of friendliness. She looked almost exactly like Artemis from my dream. I was observing her when I realized that she asked me a question.

I told her the same thing that I told Chiron and her eyes never left mine once. It made me feel important, but also creeped me out a little. "Ah, I see. Well you're one-hundred percent welcome to join us in decorating Artemis' cabin if you wish." She smiled a smile that warmed up my, now chilly, feet.

"Chiron told me that all the gods and goddesses came down earlier and decorated their own cabin," I realized.

"They did," she assured. "But Lady Artemis wanted us to decorate the cabin however we wanted. So we went with the classics. We also wanted to hang Zoë's and Bianca's burial shrouds…" Her voice got even quieter and full of sadness at the end. I decided not to bring up that subject again.

"I would love to stay and help but Chiron promised hot chocolate for me," I said grinning trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh! May I join you? I haven't had hot chocolate in years!" Lilly asked excitedly.

"Of course," I said returning the smile. "Head on up to the mess hall and I'll meet you there. I'm going to stop by my cabin quick to change."

"Okay. I'll see you there!" She said her good-byes to the rest of the Hunters and started merrily skipping off to the mess hall. _Very appropriate for this day, _I thought.

"Kasey," Lilly whisper shouted right after I turned towards my cabin. "'Baby Huntress' is what we call new Hunters. Like what high school-er's call freshman's." She smiled then turned back around and finished the distance to mess hall.

_I like this girl, _I thought, then smiled and headed towards cabin eleven.

* * *

I admired the outside of my own cabin for a little longer than the rest. It made me smile a little deeper than the rest. Hermes' cabin was covered with ornaments, each with a name on it: the names of all the campers that have ever stayed in that cabin. What impressed me was that no two ornaments were the same. Each person's ornament reflected who they were. I decided that it was pointless to try and look for mine out of hundreds so I just went inside. I headed straight for my closet without taking much look around so I jumped when someone moved out of the corner of my eye.

I turned my head towards whoever moved and realized that it was the older new boy that I saw a few days ago. He was sitting on what I guessed what his sleeping bag looking between the younger boy—who I guessed was his little brother—and me. But when he looked at me, it wasn't just curiosity in his eyes—something else was there too. Sadness or… guilt? Both of the boys had brown hair except the older's hair was just a shade lighter from what I could tell. From what I could remember, the little boy had bright blue eyes which he shared with his older brother as well.

"Err… hi," I whispered, not wanting to wake up the younger boy. "Couldn't sleep?"

The older boy shrugged. "I just have a lot on my mind," he whispered back without looking up.

"Still going through shock about being a half-blood I'm guessing?" It asked.

He sighed heavily. "Yeah," he answered back.

I pursed my lips. "Well since it _is _four in the morning on Christmas, and since neither of us can sleep," I pointed out. "how about you come with me to mess hall. Chiron's making hot chocolate." I smiled. Even _I_ was surprised at how outgoing I suddenly became. If there was ever a new half-blood in my cabin, I would usually avoid them because I wouldn't know what to say. Now here I am at four in the morning on Christmas, asking a boy whose name I didn't even know, to have hot chocolate with myself, Chiron, and Lilly, my new Hunter friend. Go figure.

"I don't know if I should leave my littl-"

"He'll be fine," I interrupted. "Like I said, it's still four in the morning."

He grinned for a moment. "Okay," he agreed.

We both threw on some warm and comfy clothes then headed back out. He stopped me on the deck. "So…err… have you found _your_ ornament?" he asked almost nervously. Obviously he wasn't good at talking either.

I sighed and giggled at the same time. "I would rather not go through, like, five-hundred ornaments just to find mine." I giggled at the crazy thought.

"Well I found mine easily," he stated still not meeting my eyes.

I lifted an eyebrow. "How?"

He shrugged. It just, sort of… stood out to me. See, look." He walked over to the far side of the porch and held up an ornament that was hooked onto the wooden railing. It was swirly and green with tiny blue gems in beautiful designs on it. In perfect cursive writing was the name _Raymond Samuels _swirling up_. _It was a different way to find out his name, but it worked.

I giggled.

His eyes squinted and he grinned. "What?" For a moment, I was happy that he was actually looking at me.

"You _do _know that these ornaments are suppose to reflect who you are, right? That ornament is…kind of girly." I stifled a laugh.

He just smiled and chuckled along. "Well my mom did always say that I have a sensitive side." He chuckled again then hooked his ornament back onto the railing. "So, which one stands out to you?"

I briefly looked around the porch. I shrugged. "To tell you the truth, all of them kind of stand out to me."

He pursed his lips. "You'll find it. I know you will." He smiled at me. I smiled back.

And with that, we headed towards mess hall. _Ahh, _I thought. _The miracles of Christmas.__

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**Cheesy ending, I know but I personally love this chapter(: I tried to think of how Iwould feel if _I _were enjoying those peaceful kind of moments on Christmas- even though we just got out for the summer... haha(: I'm finally an 8th grader ! Woo Hoo ! Anyway , comments are awesome & I hope you guys liked reading this chapter as much as I liked writing it! "Happy Holidays!" -kenna(:**


	6. The Christmas Gift of a Lifetime

**These chapters are easier to write for some reason so I've been able to update a lot faster(: I don't own any character that I didn't make, yadda yadda yadda. Now enjoy Christmas ! I'm going to make a few chapters about this day(: **

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As we were walking, we were also talking. We just asked basic questions back and forth about each other.

"So, do _you _know who your parent is, Kasey?" I guess I wasn't _that_ shocked that he knew my name.

I pursed my lips. "I've been here all my life. I don't really _care _anymore."

He seemed surprised about that. "You've seriously been here all your life?"

I nodded. "I've never even been out of the bounds of this place. My friend, Aubrey, always wanted me to come with her, but... Chiron never let me." Aubrey came to Camp Half-Blood when I was about six and was undetermined until I was seven, so we got to know each other really well. She turned out to be the daughter of Demeter so I was, once again, left in my cabin with no friends after she changed cabins. When we were both eight, she was already sent out on her first quest. Thank the gods that she came back alive, but she fell in love with the city. So she went to go live with her dad in Manhattan. She wanted me to come with her many times, but, like I said, for some reason, Chiron never let me. I haven't seen her since. I actually haven't thought about her for a while until Raymond brought up that question.

"How about you and..." I tried to remember if Raymond had ever said his little brother's name.

"Miguel," he finished. "He's my little six year-old brother." He smiled at his feet. Wow. There's been a lot of smiling in the past hour.

"How about you and _Miguel_?" I asked again, adding his brother's name.

He shrugged. "Chiron and Daniel guessed maybe a minor god. I still don't know too much about all the gods so…" He left the sentence unfinished but I didn't notice.

We walked in silence for the rest of the way there. I couldn't really tell if it was more of an awkward silence or a peaceful silence. Kind of both.

By the time we made it back to the Big House, my feet were cold again, so I was glad to warm them up by the fire. Two bean bags were set up by each other and one of them way occupied by Lilly. Chiron was in his wheelchair next to her. They were talking quietly and didn't even notice us come in. I grabbed another bean bag from the game room and put it down next to the other two so it made a semi-circle. Lilly finally noticed us and slightly jumped, spilling drops of hot chocolate on her jeans.

"Oh, Kasey. You scared me." As if I couldn't already tell. "Raymond?" she asked, looking past me. I took a seat in the middle and Raymond sat on my left.

"You two already know each other?" I asked while Chiron handed Raymond and I mugs of the warm liquid.

Lilly took a sip of hers before answering. "We met after we took you to the infirmary."

"Mmm," I said nodding. _Now _I remembered him. Then I thought of something.

"Is that why you won't look me in the eye for too long?" I asked Raymond. Chiron somehow slipped out of the room without any of us knowing.

"What do you mean?" he asked dumbly.

"You seemed…guilty when we were talking earlier. Is it because of the attack?"

He sighed. "I feel like it was my fault that those…things came and attacked you. I should've been watching Miguel closer." His eyes went to the floor.

I shrugged as if it was no big deal when, in retrospect, I was kind of pissed. "It wasn't your fault," I replied calmly. "Your brother doesn't know any better. And actually, I should be thanking you. I've never done _anything_ like that. I actually feel semi-like a demigod now." It was the truth, now that I think about it. I smiled at him.

"Err…your welcome?" He chuckled, which I counted as making him feel better. I was still thinking a little bit to myself that he _should_ feel bad because those oversized puppies could've killed me, but I let it go.

"Merry Christmas!" Lilly raised her mug.

"Merry Christmas!" We replied and raised our own. We clanked them together then each took a huge gulp. It burned my tongue, but I didn't want to seem weak, so I kept sipping until I saw Lilly move out of the corner of my eye.

She was fanning her tongue and trying to say, "Ow, ow, ow!" But since her tongue couldn't be used, it sounded more like, "Al, al, al!" I stared giggling and Raymond was chuckling.

Before we knew it, him and I were holding our guts because they hurt so badly from laughing. Lilly was just sitting there complaining, "It's not funny!" But I could tell that she was stifling a few laughes.

_Hmm, _I thought to myself. _So this is what friends are supposed to feel like._

We talked about anything and everything. I totally lost track of time, so I was surprised when I looked out the window and saw the sun rising.

Raymond noticed this as well. "I better get back to my cab—_our _cabin-" he corrected. "-before Miguel wakes up." He stood up and started heading towards the door. He was half way out when he turned around. "Merry Christmas," he added with a smile.

"Merry Christmas," we said back also smiling.

Once he left, Lilly turned to me grinning.

"What?" I asked her.

**"Sorry. I'm just kind of excited for something…" She mumbled the last part then added, "Kasey, could maybe you and I take a walk? I want to tell yo—_give_ you something."**

I squinted my eyes. "I guess?" My response sounded more like a question.

She stood up, still grinning, and headed out the door. I followed her while trying to think about what she could give me. I mean, I've barely known her for a day. She wouldn't have gotten me a present.

She continued to walk down the hill and onto a path that led into the forest. By then, I was _really_ curious. I sped up my pace so that I was walking along side of her. With every step we took, her grin would start getting bigger and bigger.

We were walking for about five minutes before I broke the silence.

"So…err…where are we going exactly?"

"Only a little farther. I want us out of seeing and hearing distance before I give you this." She smiled directly at me.

"Not to break you spirit or anything, but I'm pretty sure that we passed that point, like, thirty-seven minutes ago," I said just throwing a number out there for use of exaggeration.

"Oh, you're such a little baby," she said like a second-graded. So I copied her child like behavior and stuck my tongue out at her. She smiled like a snob and skipped ahead. I smirked.

We walked—or, well, _I _walked—for a few minutes longer before we came to an open field with a single stump in the middle. Lilly continued her skip towards the stump and sat down. I wondered why she brought me here. I knew that there was more of a reason than '_I want us out of seeing and hearing distance' _because we could've done that back at the Big House. It was still early morning so nobody was up yet.

She patted the space next to her and I sat down. "So, Kasey, guess what?" she started off asking.

"World war three started because countries are fighting over an ancient doughnut?" I guessed sarcastically.

She giggled. "That would be fun to watch, but no." I was expecting her to just tell me then, but I could tell that she really _was _going to make me guess. How boring. So I decided to play it my way until she just told me. I smiled to myself.

"Penguins have taken over Montana?"

She smiled. "Nope."

"Broccoli actually started to taste good?"

She giggled. "No." I could tell that she knew that I wasn't going to give normal answers, but she didn't seem like she wanted to stop me.

I continued "guessing". "Dionysus isn't drunk at the moment?"

"Okay, let's not get crazy." I cracked up and Lilly joined in. "Now seriously, guess!" she demanded, still giggling in between every word.

"I'm never going to guess so just tell me before I die of old age! I've learned that the hard way," I joked. That sent another round of laughter between us.

"You're going to be an amazing addition to the group," she whispered more to herself, but I still heard it.

My smile dropped. "What?" I asked.

She gave up making me "guess" and turned her legs towards me. "On behalf of Lady Artemis, I would like to present you with this." She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. "Merry Christmas, Kasey." I guess I was wrong about her not getting me a present. But then again, when am I ever right?

It was just a plain white envelope. On it, in gold writing was my name: _Kasey Brooklynn Gray_. I took it from her out stretched hand and turned it over to open.

As I pulled out what was inside, I raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded encouragingly and started bouncing in her seat with excitement. It was a brochure. On the top it said _A Wise Choice for Your Future!_ She _did_ say 'on behalf of Artemis'… I gasped.

Artemis wanted me to join the Hunt.

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**Okay, so finally I got into the good stuff. But keep reading ! It'll get better, much MUCH better(: Comments help me sooo much ! -kenna(:**


	7. Laughing

**Previous Chapter:**

____

It was just a plain white envelope. On it, in gold writing was my name:

_Kasey Brooklynn Gray__. I took it from her out-stretched hand and turned it over to open._

_As I pulled out what was inside, I raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded encouragingly and started bouncing in her seat with excitement. It was a brochure. On the top it said _A Wise Choice for Your Future! _She _did_ say 'on behalf of Artemis'… I gasped._

_Artemis wanted me to join the Hunt._

* * *

_Two hours later_

_8:37 a.m._

_December 25 (Christmas)_

I was sitting at table eleven for breakfast, my mouth still hanging slightly open in shock. _Artemis wants _me_ to join the hunt, _I thought. _Me! Of all people! _I just couldn't see that.

I sat next to Raymond during breakfast. He kept trying to ask me what was wrong, but I just shook my head as to say _I don't really want to talk about it._ You would think that I would be excited about the whole thing. I mean, Artemis thinks I'm good enough to join the Hunters which _is_ fun to think about, but _I _don't think that I'm good enough. The Hunters are known for being bold and brave. They've gone down in history as some of the most fearless leaders of all. There has never been a story involving a scared, inverted Hunter with no experience. Then there's the thing with traveling. Camp half-blood is my home. I can't just leave.

But then there's the temping side to it. I _get _to leave. I get to go see what's out beyond the strawberry fields. I would have immortality. I would get life-long friends. I'd get to live life doing more than just watching days pass. I could _become_ a brave leader.

I hate pros and cons.

I was having the little argument about this when Chiron made an announcement. "Merry Christmas Hunters and Campers," he addressed with a smile. "I have some very good news for you that I'm sure you'll like. The past few days, I have Iris-Messaged every single one of the campers and have asked them to join us tonight for Christmas." Small cheers came from the crowd. "Not _only _the campers, but I also have invited the gods to join us for three days." Cheers erupted from the few kids that we have here. I was surprised at how loud a few kids could get. Even _I_ was excited, but I didn't show it. I just kept looking down at the brochure in my hands under the table.

The rest of breakfast passed without me touching much on my plate. A lot of campers rushed through the meal so that they could go get their cabins cleaned for the visit. What they probably didn't realize was that their god-parent probably already saw the messy cabins when they came here this morning. I've never even been to _school_ and I'm still smart enought to realize that. Go figure.

I was the last one in mess hall that morning with a full plate (minus the third that I burned) of food uneaten. Chiron galloped over to me.

"I'm guessing that Lilly told you?" he asked.

"Why would Artemis want me!" I blurted out. "I don't get it! What does she see in me?" I know that I shouldn't have been angry for something so stupid, but for some reason, I was.

"I would've thought that you would be happy," he said surprised.

"I am! I'm just… I don't know." I put my forehead down onto the table.

"Confused? Scared?" he tried.

I nodded as best as I could with my head on a table, which wasn't very well.

He let out a breath. "Well I can't say anything to help you here. This is something that you have to figure out on your own." I slightly turned my head just enough to glare at him. He held up his hands defensively. "I'm sure whatever you choose will be the right one." He grinned at me and walked away.

So here's what I got out of that breakfast: An empty stomach, a brochure, a piece of good news, and advice that only a freakin' fortune cookie could give. Great.

* * *

I headed back to my cabin because I figure that I had nothing better to do. Actually, I was kind of excited to see all the campers again and to meet the gods. And, even though I knew that it wasn't going to happen, I was hoping that I would get to see Aubrey again. I knew that she wouldn't come back even if invited, but I couldn't help but have that small hint of hope.

When I got back to my cabin, only Raymond was inside, reading a book.

"Hey," I said.

He looked up and grinned. "Hey," he replied. "What's up?"

I let out a long breath then shrugged. "Just stuff." I walked over and sat on my bunk.

He closed his book (all ancient Greek, by the way) and came over to sit by me. "Like?" he asked.

_Might as well tell him. I'm a terrible liar._ "Well, this morning after you left the Big House, Lilly took me into the woods to give me a Christmas present." I paused there but he kept quiet, waiting for me to go on. "Basically, she wants me to join the Hunt." I nearly whispered the last part but I knew that he could still hear.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked calmly.

I shrugged. "There are pros and cons."

He picked up my hand which at first made me blush. Then he did something that confused me. He leaned up his hand against mine Tarzan style. I scrunched my eyebrows together and looked up at him. He looked deep in thought.

"Hmm, I guess my mom was right." I raised an eyebrow. "I _do_ have big hands." By then, I was totally lost. "My mom always used to say that I have big hands. I mean, I'm not much taller than you and _look._ My hands are, like, an entire knuckle bigger than yours," he explained. I did notice this now, but I still didn't get how he got on the subject of hand sizes.

That's when he looked up at me and smiled. He chuckled, probably at the confusion on my face. "I was just trying to get your mind off of the Hunter stuff. It's my specialty." He smiled.

"Well it worked," I admitted while smiling back. "Keep talking."

And so he did.

* * *

It turned out to be a pretty nice day: Sunny with only a few clouds but still cold. I would guess around twenty degrees or so. Somehow, Raymond and I ended up at the beach. He really _was _good at keeping my mind off the whole Hunter thing, until I would have thoughts like this. Dammit.

"I remember one time when I was about, ohh, four or so. I was at this diner with my mom, right? It was this classic '50's diner somewhere in Virginia or something. Anyway, I ordered this huge chocolate shake thinking that I could eat it all. Well it didn't turn out that way. I ended up puking all over the waitress and being escorted out," he stated. I giggled just like I had at everything else that he had said.

I was barely listening as he started another story about his eighth birthday or something. I was just happy that Raymond was there to get my mind off of things. I never knew that one person could be so full of weird stories. I smiled and giggled to myself. I thanked the gods that I did after he was done with his fact/story and kept from looking like a giggling idiot.

"So, what _your _most embarrassing moment?" He asked. I half smiled half glared at him.

"Do you _really_ want to know?" I asked him.

He seemed intrigued. "I don't know. Do I?" he asked back.

"I dunno," I teased while turning on my heel and walking away. I heard footsteps coming up behind me, but still with a little distance.

"Damn, you're good at teasing." I could hear the smile in his voice. I giggled. Gods, since when do I giggle?

Then I heard the steps speed up a little, so mine did too. Soon enough, he was all out chasing me. I would've been able to escape him easily except for the fact that I was laughing so hard that I could barely breathe. But that was okay, because neither could he.

The rest of the day up until after dinner was a blur. We had lunch, walked on the beach again, talked, laughed, even train a little. _We_ being Raymond and I. I figured that if I _was _going to join the Hunt, I would need to know the basics of a bow and arrow, so we took some time at archery. I was hoping that it would go smoothly. Of course it didn't. I accidentally shot an arrow while Raymond was picking some up and it caught his shirt sleeve and stuck him to the bullseye. Thank the gods for my bad aim.

I was able to fully realize today what friends meant to me. That's when a question popped into my head: Does that mean I _do _or _don't _want to join the Hunt?

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**The worst type of chapter: a short filler. But everyone ends up having at least one in their story, right? Keep reading ! Christmas isn't over yet(: Comments ? -kenna(:**


	8. Singing Songs and Slipped Secrets

**Here's an extra long chapter(: I'm not going to be able to update for longer than I usually do so I wanted to give you something to wonder about(: I don't own any characters that I didn't make up, blah blah blah. Enjoy the ending to Christmas !**

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I have to admit, the thought of all twelve gods coming to celebrate Christmas with us sounded like fun at first. But I was also kind of nervous that they would start fighting over "she" again. It gave me chill even just thinking about that nightmare. I shook it off.

After dinner, I was heading back to my cabin to get ready for the campfire when Lilly came up behind me and pulled me aside.

"I'm guessing that the whole Hunter thing surprised you?" she asked concerned. No hi?

I decided to play dumb. "Why would you say that?" I mumbled.

"Because after I told you, I had to drag you back to mess hall because your legs wouldn't move," she said matter-of-factly. "And because you've been avoiding me ever since." I could feel her eyes staring at me even though I dropped my head.

"Okay fine," I admitted. "It just kind of shocked me that Artemis wants _me_ to be a Hunter. I haven't done anything impressive." I mumbled the last part.

She sighed. "Do you want to know why Lady Artemis wants you to be a Huntress?" she asked.

I sighed back. "Why?" I asked sounding bored.

She waited for me to look up. When I finally did she said, "Not because of your skills or strength or leadership," Gee. Thanks for the compliments. "She wants you because of your _spirit_."

I squinted my eyes. "Spirit?" I asked confused.

"You never give up, Kasey," she stated.

"You would be surprised," I whispered to myself, too quiet for her to hear.

"How about me and the rest of the Hunters help you get ready for tonight's visit?" she offered with a smile.

I was thinking about saying no, when I realized that I don't really have that nice of clothes for something like this. "I guess," I answered unsurely. "Err… thanks."

She smiled. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" she squealed. With that, she grabbed my hand and pulled me into cabin eight.

* * *

I have never felt so girly in my entire life, even with daughters of Aphrodite hanging around. I also never knew that the Hunters could be so girly as well. I mean, they're not trying to impress anybody. At least, they're not supposed to. So I was surprised when I was walking out of cabin eight in a black and white plaid skirt over boot cut jeans, a gray button up sweater with a bow neck, silver flats, and a heart-shaped diamond necklace. Lilly and the rest of the Hunters were dressed similar except with the AE coat that Lilly had on earlier.

As we walked up to the campfire, the snow made the ends of my jeans wet and my feet cold. But besides the extreme coldness of the snow-which I was trying not to complain about- it was actually a nice night. The air warmed up, the sky was clear and star-filled, and everyone was in a good mood. I was actually impressed with what Chiron did with the campfire area. Two tables of snacks were set out filled with Christmas treats, the hearth had these weird pinecones in them that made the flames a faint green color, and the snow was melted throughout the whole area which made me and my freezing bare feet happy. Thalia's tree up on the hill was decorated with multiple colored lights and ornaments and a glowing star as the tree topper. A sound system was also set up and playing Christmas music that Apollo and his kids seemed to be enjoying. As for the rest of the campers, dozens of kids that I recognized from summers were already there and greeting their god parent. There were lines in front of almost every god and goddess to meet and/or greet them.

A young girl was stitting by the fire in a long coat and mittens. I didn't know that Hestia was coming, but then I realized that she likes to come and go as she pleases. I just smiled at her and she smiled back.

Thalia Grace joined our entrance from the side which made eleven Huntresses, and me. I didn't even know that she became and Hunter and yet she looked perfectly comfortable. I felt more out-of-place than anything. I started to fall behind them.

We were just on the edge of the small clearing when I heard footsteps running up to me, but at first I couldn't tell. So I screamed when Raymond grabbed my waist from behind and spun me around. Everyone looked at me like I was being molested.

"Don't do that!" I shouted laughing and shoving him playfully.

"And yet, you're still smiling," he said equally laughing.

The Hunters were some of the people who looked back at me but only Lilly seemed almost worried. I ignored her sad glare at me and kept walking towards wherever I would end up. Raymond followed me even though I didn't even know where we were going.

We were still laughing when I accidentally bumped into one of the Hunters when they stopped unexpectedly. I guess I wasn't paying much attention to where they were going.

"As all of you can probably imagine," a young girl's voice started. Raymond and I stopped laughing to listen. "this has been a very difficult week for me. But I'm going to push through it and enjoy Christmas with my Hunters. And I shall advise all of you to do the same."

"Yes, Lady Artemis," all of them replied at once. The Hunters gave Artemis a quick hug then headed off to claim their seats next to each other. Raymond and I were still standing there when the Hunters cleared out and Artemis was able to see me clearly. She looked almost exactly like I saw her in my dream except now she was younger. She seemed about my age, maybe even a little younger. She was wearing a silver winter jacket and regular jeans. What made me smile is that covering her auburn hair was a classic Santa hat. I also remembered that she was one of the main goddesses who were fighting over "she" and then I felt almost nervous to be standing by her.

"Kasey Gray," she says. It took me a little while to realize that she was trying to talk to me.

"That's me," I said like an idiot. _Like she didn't already know that…_ I thought.

"I'll be over there," Raymond informed me quietly.

"Okay," I said back before he walked away to leave me with Artemis.

"So have you been thinking about my offer?" Her voice sounded musical, like a wind chime.

Even though I knew that she already knew the answer, it would probably be rude to say "Why don't you tell me? You probably already know by using your godly powers," so instead I say, "Kind of." Which would be the total truth if I had mentioned that I've been trying not to think about it.

"I can sense your struggle and confusion about this. So I will not rush you. But I can guarantee that it's worth it." She smiled a gleaming smile at me and I couldn't help not smiling back.

"All right everyone!" Chiron shouted waiting until everyone was quiet. "Now that all the campers and gods have arrived, let's celebrate!" Everyone clapped and cheered, even me. Lilly gestured for me to come and sit by her on the log that they all claimed. The gods were scattered depending on where their children sat. Artemis sat in the middle of all the Hunters and Zeus stood behind his daughter. What almost confused me is that Aphrodite was standing behind Lilly and I. Of course she was dresses in a short Santa dress and a long Santa hat, but it looked more beautiful than skanky. Some of her daughters were standing around her, but most were over on the other side of the fire—as far away from the food as possible obviously. I could've sworn to Zeus (or God on this perticular day) that I saw Artemis and Aphrodite glaring at each other.

Since this was an important event, Apollo's cabin lead the songs; Christmas songs, of course. Apollo supplied the music. We aren't lame and just use CD's without the lyrics. We're old fashion and cool like that. We sang nearly every song people who go to church know—from as classic as "O Holy Night" to "All I want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. I had to admit, that one was fun to watch the guys try to sing. Lilly and I nearly started dancing when we sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" our way. The Apollo kids and especially Apollo himself was getting mad at us for "ruining" the song.

_Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, (reindeer!)_

_Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb!)_

It was actually extremely funny to watch them get so mad.

After the laughter died down, the only Apollo member who wasn't pissed off was the leader, Lee Fletcher. He has always had a good attitude, so like the rest of us, he just laughed it off. Lee grabbed an acoustic guitar and sat down on a log. He started playing quietly, so everyone's laugh started to die down after we all heard it. I knew this song. I didn't really know anyone who didn't know this song. For a little bit, all that you could hear was the guitar until Lee started to sing in his musical, professional voice.

_Silent night, Holy night_

_All is calm, all is bright_

_Round yon Virgin Mother and_ _Child_

_Holy infant so tender and mild_

_Sleep in Heavenly Peace_

_Sleep in Heavenly Peace_

All of us join in throughout the verse. We were swaying gently side to side I'm guessing without really even noticing. He played softly through a whole other verse before he started singing the second verse. Not many people knew this verse, so mainly it was just Lee, Apollo, Lilly, a few other people from different cabins, and me singing.

_Silent Night, Holy Night_

_Son of God, love's pure light_

Something changed from there. It got even quieter. Then I realized it; I was the only one singing.

"Sing out. You're amazing," someone whispered into my ear. Somehow Apollo got over by me and was encouraging me to do something that I never do, even louder. I can't ignore a god, can I? I lifted my volume.

_Radiant beams from Thy holy face_

_With the dawn of redeeming grace_

_Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth_

_Jesus, Lord at Thy birth_

I didn't realize that I was looking up into the sky until everyone broke out into applause. My cheeks started to burn and I smiled while looking down. I never knew that I had a voice. I mean, I'm not bragging, but even_ I_ could tell that I was good. Lee kept playing even though barely anyone could hear it. Apollo made me stand up and I probably blushed even deeper. I've never been the one to gather attention, but again, you can't ignore a god. Everyone calmed down enough that I could tell where Lee was in his guitar solo. Even though I'm sure Apollo didn't want them to, everyone else joined in with me. _As the leader,_ I thought. I smiled.

_Silent night, holy night_

_Shepherd's quake at the sight_

_Glories stream from heaven afar_

_Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia_

_Christ, the Savior is born_

_Christ, the Savior is born_

Everyone cheered so loud that it ruined our "Silent Night" (pun intended). All the Hunters and the Apollo cabin surrounded me.

"I didn't know you could sing!" Lilly screamed over the clapping and cheering.

"Trust me, neither did I!" I screamed back.

I accepted more complements in ten minutes that I had in my whole life, and I probably would've been there all night until Apollo pulled me by my arm into the woods.

After we walked into the thicker part of the woods about forty feet away, Apollo spun towards me with a smile brighter than the sun-even though he _is _the sun. "Yeah, girl!" He nearly shouted at me. I jumped back from his outburst. "That was awesome! Just like me." He grinned his full-of-myself grin. Yeah… whatever you say Apollo.

I didn't really know what to say to his complement so I just smiled. "I never knew that someone could rock a Christmas Carol," he continued. "but hell, _you_ did!"

"Err… thanks, Apollo," I responded quietly.

"I mean," he continued totally ignoring my thanks. "I always knew that you could sing, but to actually hea-"

"Wait," I cut him off. "You _knew_ that I could sing?"

"Duh!" He pointed to himself. "God. Remember? I would've fought over you too, but I'm not that annoying." He smirked. _Wanna bet?_ I thought. Wait, what?

"What?" I wondered out loud.

"I'm not tha-"

"No, no. Not that. The other part. What do you mean 'I would've fought over you too'?"

I could tell that he probably wasn't supposed to say that because his eyes got as big as baseballs. "Umm…err…nothing."

"No. Not 'nothing'. Something! What did you mean?" I know that it's probably the stupidest thing in the world to argue with a god, but Apollo was too worried that he probably forgot that he could blast me to pieces at any time. Thank Zeus (and God) for memory loss.

"It's probably not mine to tell," he started. "but the gods had an unexpec-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I had a dream about it." I cut off a god three times in one night. Wow.

"Well, then you should probably know that we were arguing about…someone," he said nervously. I nodded. "Well, Athena, Aphrodite and Artemis were all arguing about…you."

"Wait, the 'she' is me?" I said more to myself. "Why would they be arguing ab-"

"Hey!" he suddenly screamed. "We all start with "A"s. Apollo, Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite." He was naming them off on his fingers. How did he ever become a god? Oh yeah. He's hot.

I shook my head. I decided to go along with it. "So if they were fighting over…me," I pointed to myself. "why would _you_ fight over me?"

"Did you _hear_ yourself back there? You were amazing! Since you're unclaimed, you can be claimed by whoever as long as we all agree—even if you aren't our own child. I would want you to be a super cool Apollo kid," he said calmer now. He smiled as if he could see it already. I rolled my eyes. "But I decided not to get in my sisters way. She would've killed me."

I shook my head in disbelief. Why would they be fighting over _me?_ What's so special about me? Before I could ask any more questions to the airhead yet gorgeous god, I did what I should've done the day those hellhounds sprang out from Hades; I ran.

People were looking at me worried as I ran right through the celebration but I didn't care. I ran inside the Big House, slammed the door, up two flights of stairs, into my "unknown" room and up against the wall. Tears were already pouring out over my eyes.

I wasn't mad, I was scared. I have never had anything different or extreme happen in my life. Then, all of a sudden, everything changes when Apollo's car crashes into a lake. Everything. Now, what I was mad about is that Chiron probably knew all of this already but didn't tell me.

My weeps drowned out whoever walked into the room. My eyes were too full of tears to tell who it was, but I let them hug me anyway. Somehow, it was comforting and meaningful. They didn't say anything or try to cheer me up, they just let me cry.

I didn't really care who it was. I was just glad that someone cared about me who didn't have a tail.

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**This was a fun chapter to write because, even though its summer, I for some reason love christmas songs ! Anyway, I'll update as soon as I can but I'm going to be gone for a camp so don't get mad that I left you hanging(: Comments make my day ! Thank you sooo much for your feedback ! -kenna(:**


	9. Votes and Tasks

**I'm finally back ! (: Disclaimer: I don't own anyone that I didn't make up. Now, enjoy! Warning-Apollo might get a little OOC in this chapter..**_

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_

_Dear Diary,_

_Yesterday was the best, worst, most complicated, weirdest, and most life-changing day I've ever had; Christmas. I mean, it's bad enough that Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite and kind of Apollo (or, as Apollo calls them, the four "A"s minus Ares) are supposedly fighting over me, but now they're going to be staying here for three days. Great._

_But there is a good side to this. Ever sense my small breakdown yesterday at the end of the camp fire, him and I have been close. Very close. I mean, I just met him yesterday (like, four a.m. yesterday), but now I can't stop thinking about him. I'll admit, even when I was about to be attacked and I briefly saw him standing by Miguel in the woods, I've always thought he was cute. But now, I don't even know. I'm hoping just friends for now. It would definitely make this whole Hunter decision easier. When I asked him how he already knew that I'd be there, he just replied quietly, "A little bird gave me the hint." His response made me think of "The House Bunny" and I giggled. _

_Basically, lesson to be learned: Christmas has as many surprises as a freaking fun house... _

_Ta-ta for now!_

_Kasey Brooklynn Gray _

I closed my diary and placed it back under my pillow. I know that it's an obvious place to keep it but I couldn't really think of any place better at the moment.

I could even _feel_ the girly-ness floating around me. I was biting my lip to keep myself from smiling too wide, I would randomly giggle every now and then from memories making everyone else in my cabin stare and I was lying on my stomach with my legs bending back and forth, back and forth. Gods, how can one person have such a big impact on me? Finally, I realized what I was doing and flipped over onto my back, embarassed.

It was during the time just after breakfast that everyone was waiting for the signal so that they could go off to their activities. A lot of activities, however, are off-limits because of the weather. Basically, there's only the main training site, the archery field and the climbing wall still useable. Everywhere else was too buried in snow to train in. Chiron wanted the next few days to be as normal as possible so he didn't allow any of the gods to just melt the snow. Including Aphrodite and her daughters who I'm sure are freezing in all of their mini outfits.

The horn blew and campers filed out of every cabin to their activities. I, however, stayed put in my bed. Even though I felt a little more confident -which I was surprised about- I was still stressed and confused. So I planned to chill in my bed just like I always do. I defenitly had _plenty_ to think about and keep me busy. But, of course, that didn't happen.

I just got comfortable when Chiron clopped to the door. Somebody else was with him but I couldn't tell from the angle that I was at. I hopped up and opened the door.

"Hello Kasey," Chiron greeted with a smile.

"Hello," I responded. Apollo was the mystery guest next to him but he was almost nervous-looking. I still thought it was funny that somebody like Apollo, the most confident god there is, was nervous because of a Nobody like me.

"A Nobody with a _voice_," Apollo spoke up. Crap. I forgot about the mind-reading stuff that they have. That didn't make me feel any better than his comment. He smiled at that thought. Neither did that.

I shrugged. Chiron decided not to ask and just asked if they could come in. I said sure and soon I was sitting on my bed facing Chiron and Apollo.

"We both have some stuff to say," Chiron started, but I was pretty sure that I already knew what Apollo wanted to say. "First, I wanted to say that you _will _be participating in activities today whether you like it or not," he stated. Harsh. "Second, there are specific ones that you will be doing and I will be supervising."

"Supervising?" I wondered out-loud. I wasn't seven. I didn't need to be watched like one.

"Well that's all I wanted to say," he said completely ignoring me. "Meet me by the main arena doors after Apollo talks to you." Wait, what? I was confused. Before I had the chance to ask anything more, Chiron trotted outside, leaving me awkwardly in the cabin with Apollo.

"This cabin is boring." Leave it to Apollo to throw out the complements. "Come to _my_ cabin. It's a lot livelier." He smiled and got up, gesturing me to fallow him. When he turned my back I shook my head and smirked.

I guess he was right. His cabin was still lit up with the Christmas lights even though it was broad daylight, the floors were carpeted with designs from the 80's like the stuff they use in bowling alleys, the walls—just like the outside—were made of glimmering gold, and a disco ball was hanging from the ceiling and shooting out colored lasers. Many of the bunks were unmade or filled with sheets of music or healing stuff. But what made me feel cozy was that every bunk had the owner's name on it in their writing.

"I like to let my kids be creative," Apollo said reading my mind again. I guess I'll have to get used to that.

I smiled. This whole place reminded me of an 80's dance club, which I'm sure it was supposed to be. Lee was on a top bunk back by a rusty metal staircase which I was sure lead to some kind of rooftop. He was strumming on the same guitar that he did last night and hanging his legs over the side of the bunk. He looked up as soon as I shut the door behind us.

"Hey Pops!" he exclaimed. "I _love_ the new edition!" He pointed to a soda machine in the back of the cabin.

"I'm just surprised that you guys didn't think of something like that earlier!" Apollo teased. "Would you like some, Kasey?"

"No thank you," I responded politely.

"Oh, c'mon! It's only pop," Lee encouraged while jumping down from his bunk and getting some for himself.

I figured that I wasn't going to win so I just said, "Err… okay. Thanks." I added a smile and grabbed the plastic cup from his hand. The liquid looked like regular water, but knowing Apollo, he would never be _that _boring. I took a sip and gasped. Blackberry Izze! I haven't had it in years! I don't even _remember_ when I forgot about it, which is ironic. I smiled widely and took another gulp.

Apollo chuckled. "Whatever drink the soul would like the most at the moment is what the water turns into," he said. Huh, cheesy. It fits for Apollo, god of "poetry".

After finishing two cups and taking another sip of my third, I wanted to get to the point. "So, what did you want to talk to me about, Apollo?" Lee was sitting back on his bed strumming and singing a familiar tune, probably ditching events like I was.

"Come and sit, my friend." Apollo led me to the back corner where about ten colorful and comfy looking beanbags were set up in a circle. I sat down in a tie-dye colored one while Apollo sat in a gold one on my right.

"First I want to say that I'm sorry for causing your mental break-down," he said quickly. _Gee, thanks for the compassion in that, Apollo._ "You're welcome!" he replied to my thought sarcastically. "Second, I wanted to tell you a little bit more about your situation."

I let out a breath. "Like what?"

"Like," he started. "well, how about you ask any questions that you have and I'll answer them, okay?" He dimly smiled at me, waiting for my answer.

I nodded. "Last night, when you said that, since I'm unclaimed I could be claimed by anyone, what did you mean by that?" I asked.

"It's actually pretty cool!" he said just like you would think Apollo would say it. "You see, the sad part about this is that if your _real_ god-parent doesn't wish to claim you, the gods can vote on who _will _claim you." I lifted an eyebrow. "So let's say that you're the daughter of Nyx, goddess of night. If she, sadly, doesn't want to claim you, we—the major gods—can vote on who _does_ want to claim you. Usually it's based on your skills. After we make that vote, your _real_ parent has twenty-four hours to claim you if they wish, or else you're claimed by one of us. _That's_ the cool part." He smiled and slowly nodded his head.

"So can that only happen if you're the child of a minor god?" I asked.

His smile dropped. "Actually, no. I would _never_ let my kids be claimed by some other god, but obviously, sometimes other major gods don't care."

My mouth dropped open a little. That _did_ sound sad. I would hate going through life not know who your parent actually was _and_, whoever they were, know that they didn't want you. I would rather just never find out. Then something clicked in my mind. I gasped.

"That's what's happening with me, isn't it?" I whisper asked.

Apollo sighed. "Yes."

I could feel tears behind my eyes but none came out. I took a deep breath to calm down. I realized that Lee had stopped playing and was listening in to our conversation.

"But look on the bright side," Apollo suddenly told me. "Now you have four gods who _do_ want to claim you!" He smiled his famous shinning smile.

I couldn't match it. _My real parent doesn't want me?_ My eyes started to tear up.

Apollo must of seen my sadness because he said quietly, "Hey, don't cry. Actually, I don't even know who your real parent _is_. This could be a good thing."

I couldn't see how but it didn't make me feel much better anyway. I decided to get off the topic of my real parent. "So, why does each of those gods or goddesses want me?" I asked quietly trying to hold back more tears.

He noticed my desperate tone and said in a more upbeat one, "Well, like I said, when this happens usually whatever qualities or skills you have naturally gets you matched up with a god or goddess automatically. But here's that hard part about that: you have more than one above-average skills. So here are your choices: you could be a super-awesome Apollo kid with your voice," he added the whole slow-nodding thing again as if to show how cool he was. I mentally rolled my eyes. "You could go join my sis in the Hunt because of your quote "spirit"," he used air quotes on the last word, which I didn't know if I should take as an insult or not. I shrugged it off. "Then there's Athena and Aphrodite. I honestly don't know the reason for Athena's want, but I'm sure it's good!" he quickly added.

"Nice save dad!" Lee shouted from his bunk laughing. Apollo glared at him without turning around, but then grinned and shook his head. I giggled quietly.

"And Aphrodite," he continued. "She always has a reason, but usually it's not for the reason's you would think. I mean, you're _totally_ pretty and hot enough to be one of her daughters," he added quickly again. You would think the god of poetry would be good at talking, I guess not. Lee chuckled from his bunk. "But usually it's not just because of someone's beauty or ability to love or something like that." He said the last part almost sassy. I smiled while trying to hold back laughter. Lee was cracking up without sound. I guess he was humored by his dad's lack of communication as well. I smiled wider.

Lee jumped down from his bed and plopped down in a green beanbag to my left. "So if you turn out to not be smart enough to be with Athena, or pretty enough for Aphrodite, you can always be my half-sis," he said, mocking his dad. Apollo tried to glare at him, but ended up chuckling. I laughed along with both of them.

"But like I said," Apollo said after we regained our breath. "If I entered the "competition"," he used air quotes again. "Artemis would kill me for trying to get in her way." He shrugged.

"I'll still consider," I told him smiling.

"Awesome, dude!" Apollo jumped out from his seat and started doing a dance that made me embarrassed to be even within a mile from him. I giggled and shook my head.

"One more question though," I said. He sat back down with a smile still on his face. "Do you know what Chiron wants me to do? Usually he doesn't care that I skip training."

His eyes were suddenly not fixed on me, but the front door. "I don't know, but I have a feeling it's not going to be easy."

"Why would you say that?" I asked him trying to get his attention back. He pointed towards the door. My eyes fallowed until they got to Chiron. He was still in full horse form and was holding a loaded bow and arrow. He had a mischievous grin on his face that only Athena could wear. Oh, crap.

"Err…hey Chiron. What's up?" I asked nervous.

"You have a challenge, Kasey," he answered.

"I have a what?" I answered back immediately.

"The gods and I have a little change in plans. I assume you have been informed about the vote." Chiron looked over at Apollo who nodded one sharp nod. "Each of the goddesses or gods who would like to claim you have set up a task for you to complete to see just how far your talents can go." He smiled with pride. I, however, was not as proud. My mouth was hanging open and my eyes were probably as big as basketballs. Bottom line, I was scared. I've always heard of the gods giving tasks to heroes, but, me? Good luck with that.

I looked over at Apollo. "When he said goddesses _and_ gods, does that mean _you_ too?" I asked shocked.

He held up his hands defensibly. I still thought it was funny how he acted like he _wasn't_ this all-powerful god. Just a hot seventeen year-old. "Well I wasn't allowed to tell you _everything_."

I turned my attention back to Chiron. "And what makes you think that I'll be able to pass these tasks?"

"I just do," he replied. I grunted. Obviously I wasn't going to get out of this.

"Fine," I mumbled. "Who's first?"

Chiron smiled. "I think it will be pretty obvious after I tell you this: because of our mid-winter camp reunion…" He let the sentence trail off. _No, actually, it's _not_ obvious at the moment._

Lee apparently got what Chiron was saying because he screamed, "YES!" while jumping up from his beanbag. I still didn't get wha—oh, gods.

Lee leant me a hand to help me up which I accepted. I could've sworn that I blushed a little, but I was too nervous to realize. "You ready for this!" he screamed in my ear.

"Nope," I mumbled. "Never have been, never will be, but I guess I have to anyways." I sighed as he dragged me out the door with Apollo and Chiron following.

Athena better be happy that I'm even _agreeing_ to play.

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**I'm not those kind of people who say that they need a spacific amout of reviews to update, but as most of you probably know, they defenitaly help you go faster! So _please_ tell me what you think! Maybe if you have any ideas for later(: luv you all & thank you soooo much for the previous reviews ! -kenna(:**


	10. Athena's Task: Capture a Flag

**hey(: time for Capture the Flag ! Disclaimer: I don't own anybody I didn't make up !**

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Lee led me to the armory where campers were finding their weapons and armor. Lee was able to find his with ease because he knew exactly what sizes he needed. I had no idea what I was doing. First I tried on a breast plate that looked about my size, but it turned out to be ten-times heavier than I thought it would be and ended up nearly squishing my fingers on the ground. Next I tried one that was made of leather and normal metal. I picked it up and it was my size and fairly light. Except that I dropped it accidentally on somebody while they were putting on knee guards. Unfortunately they were a son of Ares and took the plate and chucked it out a—now—broken window. Luckily Lee stepped in before I was pounded to a pulp. After he told the guy off, he turned to me laughing.

"New at this?" he asked.

I returned the laugh. "Maybe a little."

He pursed his lips while looking at the wall filled with different types of armor. He started to walk towards the back wall so I followed him. He suddenly grinned then pulled a breast plate off a rack that was hidden behind a few other racks. "Here, try this," he said, handing it out to me. I took it from his hands. It was a bit heavier than the last on and looked a bit smaller. "It's always good to have them a little bit smaller so that it's easier to run," he said like he read my thoughts. I slipped it on.

It was a little small just like I thought and heavy on my shoulders. But at the same time, it felt stable. The metal was made of bronze and the straps were leather. Simple and perfect. I smiled and thanked Lee for helping.

The rest of the armor was easy to find, mostly because they only came in two sizes: small and large. Most of the campers were already outside in their teams discussing strategy so the barn was easier to walk around in. Lee and I walked up to the third wall which was filled with racks of swords, bow and arrows and other weapons. Lee easily picked out a regular steel sword that I'm sure he's used before. I, however, had to go through the same thing that the new campers do on their first day. Lee would hand me a sword and I would say if it felt balanced. I went through almost a dozen swords until I got to one that wasn't perfect, but better than the others. It was normal steel but had a reflective gleam to it.

Lee stepped back to admire his work. "Nice," he admitted.

"Thanks," I replied.

Chiron blew his starting horn outside. "Campers and Hunters! Take your posts! Annabeth Chase is captain of red, Thalia Grace for blue!" he announced. Cheers erupted from outside. I grabbed a random shield that I could've sworn weighed a million pounds, but I knew just about all of them did.

"Let's go." Lee smiled and grabbed my hand and rushed out to the field. Today's game was Hermes, Apollo, Athena and Poseidon (even though there's only Percy) versus the Hunters and all the other cabins. It was about even with advantages and disadvantages on each side.

We rushed over to the East side of the river where our team was waiting for us. We filled the gap of our huddle where I was next to Raymond. "Well it took you guys long enough," Raymond said playfully.

"Yeah, what were you guys doing in there?" Percy added. He stuck out his lips and kissed the air repeatedly. Everyone started laughing. I even giggled along despite the fact that I was blushing. I looked over at Lee who was trying not the smile but failing, and also a little pink in the cheeks. I looked over to me left where Raymond was also chucking but redder than me and Lee combined.

"Oh, c'mon man!" Lee said still chuckling and shoving Percy. He knocked into Annabeth and both of them started to blush also. I giggled.

"Okay, okay!" Annabeth shouted pushing Percy back to his spot in the huddle. "Let's focus."

Raymond grabbed my hand and started to play with my fingers. _Nice focus_, I thought giggling. Annabeth glared for a second at us but decided to let it go. "Here's the plan," Annabeth started. "We hide the flag in plain sight but in the deeper part of the woods. I'll be an offence this time-"

"So you can be with Percy?" somebody from the Apollo cabin mocked. Everyone laughed again. Annabeth glared at them blushing just a bit but didn't stop. _Wow, there has been a lot of blushing in the past minute, _I thought.

"—with the rest of the Athena's cabin on defense. Apollo's cabin is our chargers, fighters, and distracters. Percy, you make your way to locate the flag. All campers that are new at this game stay on Boarder Patrol; except you." She looked straight at me. "You're on offence." I nodded one sharp nod to keep from looking nervous; which I was. Not only will I have to fight for my life, but now my team is relying on me to help get the flag. Great.

"Alright then, let's go win this Red Team!" Annabeth shouted. We all screamed to agree and then took off to our posts.

Before I went to fallow the other offenders to the creek, Raymond grabbed my arm. "Err…Good luck?" The ending sounded more like a question than an encouraging statement. "I hope you pass this task." He ended with a smile.

"Wait, how did you know about the tasks?" I asked.

He just winked at me then took off into the woods. I was kind of freaked out but I decided not to think about it now and just ran towards the creek.

The blue team's offenders—mostly Ares' kids—were lined up on the other side of the creek. My team was doing the same thing. I hid farther behind the other campers. All the gods were lined up behind Chiron. They were allowed to watch, but they couldn't help their kids in any way. I could feel Athena eyeing me. I had a feeling that I would be feeling like this all game. Chiron explained the rules which everyone had heard multiple times, so those kids were using that time to grunt and growl at the opposite team.

Just as Chiron was about to sound the Conch, he grinned at me as if to say _Good luck. _I bit my lip as if to say _I'll need it._ And with that, Chiron blew the horn and we charged.

* * *

I was resting behind a large bush in enemy territory, exhausted. At first I was able to just slip across the creek without being seen, but one of the Hephaestus kids saw me after some of the other players cleared out and nailed me in the chest with his foot. I got the wind knocked out of me for a few seconds but was able to stand up and block a blow that was coming towards my head. You would think that I would be the _amazing hero who gained skills just with adrenalin!_ But I'll leave that for Percy. Instead, I dropped my sword because it wasn't perfectly balanced and the Hephaestus kid slashed my left arm, just missing my previous, still wrapped-up wound which made me drop my shield as well. I winced in pain but was able to grab my sword from the ground and slash blindly upwards. The blade slashed against his breast plate and caused him to fall backwards. I used those few seconds to jump up and run deeper into the blue team's woods. A second encounter happened when I ran pasted a Demeter girl who was disguised as a tree. She jumped at me and we both fell to the grass. When my left arm hit the ground I let a whimper escape my lips. She was pretty light but strong. I was able to get out from under her after a struggle and stood up quickly. But when I tried to run away, tree roots grabbed me and cause me to fall again. I cut the roots with my sword and continued to run. I must've been on the far side of the forest because I walked unnoticed for a few minutes. Finally I met up with another player. They were about forty yards away and were just standing there. I couldn't tell who they were so I took a step closer. Bad move. Whoever it was saw me and shot an arrow that would've pierced my eyes if I hadn't deflected it with my sword. I didn't really feel like using my giant and nearly indestructible shield I guess.

"Oh my gods, Kasey! I'm sorry! I didn't know that was you!" Lilly came rushing towards me while I was frozen with fear. "Are you okay?" she asked when she finally got to me.

"Yeah, just a little traumatized," I replied with a giggle to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal that she almost killed me. "Don't you know that it's against the rules to kill in this game?"

"Well you scared me! Natural instinct, I guess." She shrugged then smiled. I smiled back.

We stood there for a few seconds longer before I spoke up. "Err… aren't we supposed to be fighting, or something?" I murmured.

She shrugged again. "Well, technically yes. But…" she let the sentence trail off without an ending. After that, all we could hear was the clatter of swords and screams. I was about to just walk farther into the forest to look for the flag hoping that Lilly wouldn't care—which she probably wouldn't in fear that, if she did, I wouldn't want to be a Hunter—when a dagger flew towards me with enough strength to knock me over—and that's exactly what it did. Of course I dropped my sword and shield, again. _I hate not having hand-eye coordination, _I thought. I propped myself up on my elbows to another Ares kid towering over me with a sword.

"Good find, Lilly," he said. I looked over to Lilly biting her lip and looking from me to him, then me, then him again. She was probably trying to decide who to help. The boy ripped off my helmet and threw it far into the woods. Lilly gasped, still trying to decide. "Well? You gunna help or not?" he asked Lilly. She bit her lip so hard that it started slowly oozing blood. "Suit yourself."

Then he grabbed me by the hair and lifted me off of the ground a good three inches. I screamed in pain. "STOP!" I screamed.

"MAKE ME!" he screamed back just as loud. He sounded like a stubborn third grader. I was defenseless and I figured that he was about to do a lot worse stuff than just holding me by my hair. So I closed my eyes and braced for the worse, still in pain by my roots. It didn't take long after that when I heard a scream. He dropped me and I landed with a thud. I open my eyes again. He was clutching his right arm, the one that was holding me. My mouth dropped open when I looked over at Lilly who was still in her aiming stance.

"Try not to run into anyone else dangerous! Now, run!" She screamed at me. I picked up my other gear and did as I was told. I ran for a while until I found this bush that seemed dense enough so that nobody could see me as I rested.

I haven't seen anyone since Lilly and the Ares boy which is kind of weird. I took a few more deep breaths until my heart finally calmed.

I was about to get up and look around when I felt the presents of somebody else close by. I stood up and carefully looked around. I couldn't see anybody but I was sure that they were hiding. Just then, a hand clamped around my mouth. I screamed as best as I could with the hand around my mouth. Whoever it was pulled me back down to the ground and released their hand. At first look, nobody was there and I was about to scream again. But then they shimmered back to place. Annabeth was kneeling beside me with a Yankees cap in her hands. She was drenched with sweat and smiling at me.

"You scared the sh-!" she covered my mouth again.

"Shhh!" She took her hand off my mouth after I relaxed. "Sorry that I scared you but you have to stay quiet!" she whisper-shouted.

"Why?" I whispered back, my heart still racing.

"_Because_ there are defenders all around here."

"Defenders?" I asked.

She nodded. "Percy found me and told me where the flag is. The hid it right over there." She pointed to the other side of the bush and slightly upwards but I couldn't tell exactly where. So I just nodded. I had to admit, the _up_ part got me curious.

"So now what do we do?" I asked.

"Nothing," she responded. "We need to wait until a decoy comes to distract them, then we charge in."

I nodded. We sat there in silence for a little bit. It wasn't as much of an awkward silence as it was a need-to-stay-quiet sort of silence. I didn't really want to sit there in the quiet for however long, but she beat me to it.

"So how's the game going?" she asked obviously trying to break the quiet.

I shrugged. "Why _did_ you put me on offence anyway?" I asked avoiding her question.

Her eyes widened just a bit. "Why wouldn't I? You've been here longer than even _I_ have."

"Well yeah, but then you wouldn't have told me directly to go on offence. You would've known that, since I'm technically not new to this game, I would already been _going_ to offence," I pointed out.

"Well…I knew that you wanted and was going to go onto defense because you always ditch Capture the Flag-" I bit the inside of my lip. "—and…you probably don't know this but the actual point of the task is t-"

"Okay, seriously, how does everyone know about my "tasks?"" I interrupted and using air quotes.

"Well I don't know about anyone else but my mother told me sense I'm the Captain of your team," she said matter-of-factly. I let out a long breath. "So, like I was saying," she continued. "The actual _point_ of this task, is that _you_ have to capture the flag."

"WHAT!" I screeched.

"Shhh!" she whispered more worried this time.

I quickly realized what I did and covered my mouth. Annabeth and I quietly peered through the bush to make sure that nobody heard us. I let out a sigh of relief when we still didn't see anyone.

"Sorry," I whispered. "But why do _I _have to go get the flag? It proves enough that I'm like Athena that I'm even _playing!" _

"Just stick with me. Athena always has a plan." She winked at me after using her signature line.

I faked a smile and slightly nodded. I had to agree with Annabeth. Athena has _never_ lost as far as I know. Her plans always have twists and risks but they always work out. I have to admit, I was starting to get a little more confident.

We whispered for a little while longer about just random stuff until we heard the sound of running footsteps coming towards us.

"Okay, here's the decoy. They'll pretend to be trying to get the flag but "accidentally"-," Air quotes. "—cause somebody to see them," Annabeth informed.

"Isn't that, like, a really obvious plan?" I asked.

"Well yes, but it's a classic," she said shrugging. "Besides, this one is a little different. Another dozen or so campers are coming up behind the decoy. They'll get up close enough to ambush the defenders when all of them are trying to attack the decoy. I know that all of them will be trying to attack because they're probably so bored that they just want to do _something_."

I giggled at her logic. The decoy came up close enough that we could see their face. It was a girl from my cabin. I have seen her many times before but don't know her very much. From what I know, she has dark, stick-straight hair, amber eyes and a natural at archery. She's just a summer camper and is still undetermined after two years. Lucky her. I think her name is Amelia.

She jogged around, hiding behind different trees. There was one moment that she caught our eyes and winked. Obviously Annabeth was happy because she let out a breath and grinned. "That means that everything is in place," she whispered to me like she was reading my mind. _Is she Apollo?_ I giggle at my totally lame joke. "What?" she asked at my random laugh. I shook my head as to say _Nothing._

She shrugged again and turned her attention back to Amelia. After a few more switching trees, Annabeth put on her Yankees cap. "Wait, where are you going?" I asked in a whisper-shout incase she started to walk away.

She took her hat back off and was still crouched down in front of me. "I'm going to sneak up behind the main defender and get him out of the way so that Percy can climb the tree and give the flag to you," she responded as if obvious. "Stand up and fight when the rest of the offenders do." She put her cap back on and shimmered out of sight.

I turned back to look for familiar red helmets. I could see Amelia's very easily, which meant that she was either _really_ good at pretending to be bad at hiding, or just _really _bad at hiding naturally. I didn't get how the blue defenders couldn't see her. I would guess that they would mostly be Demeter kids and Hunters. A few Aphrodite girls were bending over a small pond and checking their reflection in plain sight. I made a face.

I could tell that Amelia was getting annoyed with them not seeing her as much as I was. So she faked a sneeze. It was quiet enough to make it seem like she was muffling if, but loud enough to make all the defenders come out of hiding and confirming my guess. _She's awesome! _I thought.

A Demeter girl who was hiding in the lowest branch of the tree next to her jumped nearly on top of her. Amelia was able to roll out of the way. She loaded an arrow and aimed it at her attacker. She was about to let it go when she did something that confused me—she turned one hundred eighty degrees and shot her arrow at a tree about thirty feet away. The Demeter girl didn't stop to think about why she did that like I did, she just slashed her sword which clashed with Amelia's dagger just in time. They started their battle with other campers trying to cut in aswell just like Annabeth predicted.

Just then, another dozen kids came out from behind trees and bushes and all took their own battle to fight. We were horrible outnumbered but were somehow managing to hold everyone off. I could see that Annabeth was fighting off all the main guarders at once. They were probably still scared from her sudden appearance. Once I saw that most of the defenders were fighting, I stood up. The flag was pierced with an arrow near the top of one of the pine trees. I groaned.

"Good spot, isn't it?" a voice asked from behind me. I quickly turned around. You would think that all Demeter kids would be happy and nice and sweet, right? Well, not _all_ of them. The guy behind me was at least eight inches taller than my short five foot, one inch, his hair was so red it makes Lindsey Lohan's first hair coloring seem gray, he's one of the most athletic kids here, and his muscles are bigger than my head. I'm pretty sure his name is Noah. _A lot_ of girls drool over him which I don't get.

Noah's sword nearly cutting my head in half brought me back from my thoughts. _Gods I wish I had my helmet right now!_ I screamed in my head as we went into a battle of our own. He swiped his sword towards my neck which I ducked under and slashed at his legs instead. I only caused him a few cuts but he did stumble which gave me the time to get in a better position. _That's what she said!_ Apollo screamed into my head laughing hysterically. _Not the time!_ I shot back rolling my eyes.

I planted my feet on the ground with my shield in a good spot to protect my head at any moment. Noah scrambled up to his feet and took his stance. Our swords collided and I could tell that we both had the same idea because our swords both tried to circle around the other. I stepped back a foot and brought my sword a little closer to me. Noah stepped forward and jabbed his sword straight forward. I held up my shield and blindly slashed around it. I harmlessly scraped the tip of my sword across his chest. His sword tip was still at my shield which his extended forward hard enough to knock me over. My head hit a small rock which didn't hurn much but I could still feel a small amount of blood sticking in my hair. That's when I got an idea.

I scurried to the other side of the bush which was dense enough so that he couldn't see me. I could feel him chasing me around it so I ran even faster and got right up behind him. I threw my sword down which clattered and made him turn around. Without thought, I took my shield off my arm and bashed it against his head. He fell to the ground and started rolling around, moaning. I still don't know what girls see in him.

I snapped back to reality when someone dramatically screamed. I looked over to where the sound was coming from and saw a Demeter girl standing alone doing nothing. Then I heard another scream, but this one was different. I turned my head to see Annabeth fallen and a satisfied looking defender. The Demeter girl looked pretty pleased as well with her distraction. Percy gasped and quickly knocked over his opponent. He ran over to the seven guys surrounding Annabeth and started fighting them as well, easily taking two of them down but having troble with the others.

I ran over to him, blocking a few blows on the way. As I was fighting off another defender, I said to Percy, "You have to get the flag!"

"Umm, little busy right now!" he shouted back sarcastically. I grunted and swiped the feet right out from under my opponent.

Without thinking, I ran to the tree and started climbing. I was about a third of the way up the tree when daggers and poorly shot arrows came at me which made me think that the Hunters either didn't notice or didn't _want_ to notice. I liked that. I blocked most weapons with my shield but every now and then one would hit my armor and make me stumble but I never fell.

I finally got to the top and pried the arrow out, letting the giant flag drop into my hand. I dropped my sword and secretly hoped that it knocked somebody out. I was too high up to have weapons thrown accurately but campers were starting to climb the trees around me. I quickly tried to think of a plan. All I could see around me were branches. I smiled and took a breath. I stood on top of a branch and prayed to the gods that I wasn't about to die as I leaped to another tree branch with the flag in my leather belt. I somehow was able to grab the branch and hold myself and the million pound shield up. I continued to swing from branch to branch until I got to a tree about thirty feet away. I looked down and saw a swarm of campers just waiting for me to climb down. I had one option. I would probably regret it later but I had to. I slipped my shield off of my arm and dropped it. I didn't want to see how many campers I hit because I needed for them to lose sight of me, so I kept swinging.

A few trees later, my arms were dying and I couldn't tell where I was going. So I stopped at a branch, quickly jumped down using the branches like stairs and took off with about forty campers after me with swords, arrows and knives. I passed many of my team mates who cheered me on and enemies who joined the mob. I could feel Athena's eyes on me clearly again which gave me the strength to run even faster. A few arrows were shot at me and some slashes we swiped but all luckily bounced harmlessly off my armor.

Ten feet through the clearing, one leap over the creek, sixty campers lifting me in the air, one down, three to go.

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**The fight scenes were probably really bad.. but I've never been in those situations so don't judge me ! & I'm going to a camp for two weeks & won't be able to update so I'm sorry ! It always makes my day to see reviews ! & I need some good ideas for the tasks for Artemis, Apollo & Aphrodite so it would be awesome if you helped me out! Thank you all sooo much for reading ! -kenna(:**


	11. Apollo's Task, 1: We're Halfway There

**IMPORTANT : back(: I know this is a really short chapter but trust me, I already have the next one typed up(: I read a fanfic not too long ago && it did this same thing so I thought it would be kinda fun ! At the end of this chapter, there's a song playing. If anyone can guess the song, I'll update that day & they can get an imaginary cookie ! but if no one can with in a few days, no worries(: enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own anyone that I didn't make up**

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"Courage, Kasey," Athena said with a smile.

"Courage?" I repeated. Athena and I were sitting in the game room where we hold meetings sometimes. She was telling me about what my life would be like if I accepted to _her_ claiming. "Wasn't the point of this task just to see if I was a good fighter or smart or something?"

"These challenges are going to go a little deeper than just that," she explained. "Mine wasn't just to see if you were a good fighter and wise-which you are- but to see if you could be independent and courageous." Her stunning gray eyes sparkled.

"How was I _at all_ courageous in that game?" I asked.

"You didn't argue when my daughter put you on offence, did you?" she pointed out. I shrugged. "Then when there was a plan that didn't go accordingly, you decided to complete it yourself. And I don't believe that many demigods have swung thirty feet from branch to branch in the air." She grinned. I really shouldn't question the goddess of wisdom... Athena smirked at my thought.

"So if I choose to be _your_ claimed daughter, would I automatically become an amazing fighter and super smart?" I nearly mumbled.

"Not necessarily," she responded. "But you _will_ be able to learn at an above-average level right from the start. Another thing that you should think about is that out of the four gods and goddesses wanting to claim you, I could give you the most normal life for a half-blood." She smiled.

I thought about that and she was right—like always. With Artemis you pledge your faith to her and live for eternity, Aphrodite is the exact opposite with crazy hormones for guys, and Apollo just kind of blends in. Athena could give me a normal life—the most normal that a demigod could get which still isn't very much, but still—and _still _stand out in some ways.

"Exactly." She smiled in pride. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Be wise about your choice." Athena winked at me then walked out.

Apollo bumped into her while he was rushing in. "Hey, Kasey!" he said completely ignoring Athena. "It's time for _my_ task!" He grabbed my arm excitedly and literally pulled me outside.

* * *

My mouth popped open as I stared at the training area. More lights were hanging from the trees surrounding the area which made the space light up brighter than the sun, which wasn't hard considering that Apollo blocked the sun behind a thick cloud. But what made me gawk was the pimped out karaoke set on a lit-up dance floor.

"Apollo?" I asked calmly even though I was freaking out inside.

"Hmm?" He responded with his

"What exactly _is_ your task?" I asked even though I pretty much already knew the answer.

He smiled at me before exclaiming, "Karaoke!"

"Why?" I said slowly and quietly.

"Because you're awesome at singing, dude!" he said back.

I took a deep breath before answering, "No, I mean why do you want to see me do this?"

He held up his finger. "Ah ah ah. I can't tell you just yet. First you've got to _beast_ it out there." He smiled from ear to ear before shoving me towards the microphone. I stumbled but caught myself before I fell. Sweaty campers were starting to gather around me with either a smile or a glare depending on what team they were on. I felt accomplished and guilty at the same time.

By now, I'm sure that more campers than just Annabeth knew about my tasks. But the one who didn't know were giving me questioning looks.

I took one last look around before I grabbed the microphone and saw the gods and Chiron leading kids towards the growing group of kids. _Of course…_ I thought.

I turned my back on the people and looked around to see what song I would be singing, but I couldn't find anything with lyrics or even just the title of the song. I bit my lip. The opening guitar solo slowly raised its volume into the speakers and the camp quieted down. I gripped the mic even tighter and bit my lip with my back still to the audience. Just as I was about to just run off and forget Apollo's task, the electric guitar solo suddenly became familiar. I breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled. I quickly prayed to the gods that I would remember all the words, which is kind of ironic considering what the song was.

All I could think of while I was smirking was, _Nice choice Apollo, nice choice._

**review&&post your guesses ! -kenna(:**


	12. Apollo's Task, 2: The Bright Side

**thanks for all the guesses ! i got a lot on personal messaging so ... yah . again , you should listen to the song while it plays in the chapter(: go onto youtube & type in "living on a prayer music and lyrics" & click on the first one(: enjoy !**

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You know that feeling when you're really excited for something but also really nervous and you get that feeling at the pit of your stomach? Yeah, me too. I gripped the mic tightly and turned on my heels to face the crowd with a small smile on my face. Apollo was cuffing his mouth and cheering for me but Artemis looked pissed. Not at me, but at her annoying and slightly entertaining twin. I noticed Raymond and Lee standing by each other in the middle of a group of campers. Both of them were staring at me and smiling.

"Yeah, Kasey!" Lee shouted fallowed by encouraging screams from some Aphrodite girls. I couldn't see myself, but I knew I was blushing a deep color because Raymond chuckled.

The background voices started singing and I took a deep breath as the lead singer said, "Once upon a time…not so long ago…"

After that, I knew I was on my own. So I just sucked in and sang out still smiling my nervous smile, "Tommy used to work on the docks…" I started kind of quietly. "Unions been on strike, he's down on his luck…it's tough," The crowd and the gods, even Artemis, cheered at the 1987 hit by Bon Jovi. Even _I _was surprised that I could sing loud and energetic besides just soft and sweet. Apollo screamed the loudest.

"Gina works the diner all day! Workin' for her man, she brings home her pay for love… For love!" I smiled and my I'm-nervous smile was replaced with more of an I-can't-believe-Apollo-got-my-butt-up-here-but-mostly-I-can't-believe-that-I'm-enjoying-it smile.

I took the mic off the stand an started slightly pacing around while gripping my stomach to hold notes. "She says we've gotta hoooold on, to what we've got! It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not! We've got each other…" As I said that I notice a lot of people lip-singing along and slightly hugging—like the awkward one between Raymond and Lee which I giggled at. "And that's a lot for love… We'll give it a shot!"

"Whooah! We're halfway there!" I sang into the microphone. "WHOO-AH! LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!" The camp joined in.

"Take my hand, we'll make it, I swear! Whoo-ah! Livin' on a prayer!" I was already breathing kind of deeply but I was smiling from ear to ear as the camp cheered. By now, I was walking around the whole floor stopping every now and then.

_Tommy got his six string in hock  
Now he's holding In, what he used  
To make it talk so tough, it's tough  
Gina dreams of running away  
She cries in the night  
Tommy whispers: Baby it's okay! Someday…_

The more I would sing the rest of the song, the more the camp would enjoy it. Kids were starting to dance and sing along, all nervous feeling was gone from inside me, and even during the guitar solo, Apollo came up to me and started dancing and singing. I have to admit, I was having a blast.

"Ooo, we've gotta hold on! Ready or not!" Apollo and I sang along. "You live for the fight when that's all that you've got!"

By now, campers were joining us on the dance floor and singing out not caring if they were good or not. "WHOOOAH, WE'RE HALFWAY THERE! WHOO-AH! LIVING ON A PRAYER!" We screamed out a little off-key. Raymond and Lee were now by me and singing badly even though I knew that both of them were _trying_ to be bad.

"TAKE MY HAND!" I held out both of my hands which each of them proceeded to grab and spun me in a few circles. "AND WE'LL MAKE IT I SWEAR! WHOO-AH! LIVING ON A PRAYER!" I set the mic down and let everyone else have their moments as the song came to an end. I was panting and probably a little sweaty but I couldn't really care less at the moment. I was laughing and the camp was cheering and having fun while dancing.

I saw Apollo leaning up against a tree smiling. "Yeah, Kasey!" he shouted while walking up to us. "Hangin' out with the hot guys I see, Kasey?" he asked me chuckling.

"They're just my friends," I said quickly trying to control the burning blood rushing up my neck. Apollo rested his arm on his son's shoulder even though Lee wasn't much shorter than him.

"Sure," he said stretching out the _u_. He laughed I stuck my tongue out like a second-grader again. "Whatever you say!" He snapped his fingers and the karaoke set turned into a DJ system with music blasting. There were also a few tables of snacks and drinks at the far side of the training area where kids were now starting to head to, still smiling and dancing to the music. I smiled.

After two more hours of dancing and chilling with Raymond and Lee, Chiron asked all of us to back to our activities. I heard a lot of groans but eventually everyone left. I was about to fallow Raymond to the arena when Apollo grabbed my arm from behind. "May I speak with thee?" he said dramatically. I raised an eyebrow while stifling a laugh. "I guess." I told Raymond that I would meet up with him later and turned towards Apollo.

He was grinning. "What?" I asked.

He just shook his head. "Nothing." I could've sworn that he mumbled something like _does_ or _damn_ or _did_ but it wasn't clear enough to tell. "Anyways, I would like to tell you about my task in haiku."

I quickly rolled my eyes as he cleared his throat.

"You found joy in song,

Come be an Apollo kid.

You're already awesome."

He finished of his "poetry" with a dramatic bow. I just shook my head while grinning and decided not to correct his last line. "Err…no offence but…didn't you say that you didn't want to get into the 'competition'-" Air quotes. "—because of Artemis?"

He shrugged. "Whatever."

I grinned again. "Ok then. So basically you're saying that you like my talent of song?"

"Not exactly. You always look on the cool side of things; the bright side!" I rolled my eyes at his lame joke.

"Just think about it kid." He winked at me then snapped his fingers. Next thing I saw was a bright light and then I was standing outside the arena—on top of Raymond.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry!" I jumped off of him and helped him up.

He just chuckled and brushed it off. "It's cool. I'm fine." I still was embarrassed and asked about ten more times if he was alright. When finally he just about forced me to believe that he actually was okay, I agreed and we stepped into the arena. I could see Percy and Annabeth sword fighting—again—and, from the look of it, Annabeth was winning—again. A few other campers were fighting some dummies or involved in their own fights. Lee was sword fighting his half-brother, Austin. When we stepped in, Lee turned his head our way and smiled—which was stupid considering then Austin butted the end of his sword into Lee's chest, knocking him over.

I giggled but still jogged over to him on the ground. "Are you okay?" I asked still slightly giggling.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I'm cool." Raymond and I extended our hands to help him up which he accepted.

"You sure you're okay?" I asked again. Raymond groaned. "What?" I complained. "I don't like it when people are hurt…"

Lee closed his eyes for a second. When he re-opened them, he chuckled. "My dad transported you and you landed on Raymond?" he guessed.

I raised my eyebrow. "How did you know that?" Raymond looked confused too.

Lee shrugged. "The leader of each cabin always has a better connection with their parent so I can usually tell what my dad is doing. And just because he would do that kind of thing." He smirked.

I giggled and Raymond grinned. After that there was a short, awkward silence. I started to rock back and forth on my heels and Lee started to bob his head.

"So…err…" I started trying to break the awkwardness. "Do you guys want to start pra-"

A bright light flashed besides me and I had to close them to keep them from burning. When I re-opened my them, Aphrodite was standing there in a floor-length red dress. Her hair was in perfect ringlets and her skin seemed to glow with heath. I had to force myself not to stare but the guys weren't as strong. They were both bug-eyed with their jaws dropped to the snow. Not to mention that they were both babbling like idiots, probably without realizing it.

I sighed. "Hi Aphrodite," I greeted confidentially even though I really wasn't.

"Hello, Kasey," she said. Her bright eyes glimmered.

She glanced over at Lee and Raymond who were still in awe and smirked. "Aww, you boys are _so cute_." Then she proceeded to pinch each of their cheeks. The love drunk boys brought their hands up to where the goddess touched then and I swear they almost melted.

Raymond had a stupid grin on his face and Lee started to drool. I made a disgusted face.

Aphrodite smirked one more time before turning back to me. "Kasey, come with me please."


	13. Aphrodite's Task: Choices

**I would like to thank my two constant reviewers: Heartbeat & Sk8rRebel13 (: You guys keep me writing ! Of course I love all my other readers too(: thank you to everyone who reads and/or reviews my story ! you guys rock ! Now, hopefully this chapter will make up for my last two chapters .. not my best work :/ anyways , enjoy !**

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As if the red and pink Christmas lights weren't bad enough on the outside, the inside made me want to barf on all the designer clothes.

I've only been in this cabin once, but thats another story. The carpet was a bright pink and the walls were painted a deep red with golden designs like vines and hearts all over. About eight make-up stations were set up on one wall and about five bunks were scattered on the other side. Some music was playing quietly from an I-pod dock by one of the beds. But the main thing that I noticed was that the main-area part of the cabin was only half the size of a normal cabin. The other half was a closet. A _huge _closet. I'm talking a closet that makes JCPenney look like a one bedroom apartment.

And to top it all off, the whole place reeked of perfume. I'm sure to other people the place would smell amazing, but not to me. I nearly gagged.

"I know, I know. It's not your style." Aphrodite held up her hands defensively. She mumbled something to herself but it was too slurred for me to make it out. I let it go.

"Now, Kasey, _my _task has nothing to do with skill." I wasn't that surprised. Aphrodite wasn't known for skills, just for messing with people's love life and her looks. The goddess smiled at my thought. She then turned on her heel and gestured for me to fallow her towards the back of the cabin.

She stopped in front of a make-up station at the end that was twice the size of the others—and the others were already oversized.

Aphrodite quickly leaned closer to the mirror and dabbed at her lipstick and mascara. She also stroked her perfect, chocolate brown ringlets. She still looked a little displeased but before she reached for some clear lip gloss, she remembered that I was still in the room and let her hand drop.

"Come, sit," the goddess said to me while pulling out the black, leather chair in front of the set up. I sat down. "First, let's just talk." She smiled.

"Err…okay," I said back both nervous and confused.

"Why haven't you just gone and joined the Hunter's yet?" Her question was very straight forward and kind of took me by surprise.

"Because I still have other choices," I answered.

She smirked. "Really? Because I've been watching over you the past few years and you don't seem too happy here. Don't have many friends if any at _all_, always ditching training because you're not good at it, and you live in the most packed cabin of all of them but you're still anti-social," she said straight-out. I have to admit, when she said those things to me, I really wanted to hit her. She was just shoving my boring and sad life right back in my face except in a much harsher way.

"The Hunters would give you skill," she continued. "Family, friends _and_ immortality," she pointed out. I know I already thought about these same things yesterday when Lilly first told me that Artemis wanted me to join the Hunt, but for some reason, it coming out of the love goddess's mouth made a lot more sense.

"Why is the love goddess persuading me to join the Hunt where love is forbidden?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Are you sure that's the _only _reason that you're going through with this?" she asked _totally_ ignoring my question.

I thought about it again before answering again. But I didn't get an answer out because Aphrodite held up her hand to stop me. "You shouldn't lie to a goddess. Just because I'm not Athena doesn't mean I can't tell when you're going to lie. Especially about something like this." She grinned wickedly.

"What's _this?_" I asked nervously.

"LOVE!" she blurted out, causing me to jump.

"_Love?" _I asked equally as loud. "What _love_?"

"Your little crush on Raymond!" She squealed with a smile from ear to ear. "_So_ cute!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I held up my hands. "I do _not_ have a crush on Raymond!" I denied even though I could feel a blush coming on.

"Like I said, you shouldn't lie to the love goddess. I can see that blush and the way you act around him. I just _love_ it!"

"I only met him a few days ago!" I pointed out, still shouting.

"Love only takes a moment," she said back at normal volume while dramatically putting a hand over her heart. She sighed while smiling.

I rolled my eyes in frustration. The truth is that Raymond _is_ a reason that I don't want to leave my boring life here, but he's not the _whole_ reason. Just a big part of it. There, I said it. Or, well, thought it.

"You shouldn't be embarrassed about having a crush, Kasey. It's _so cute!_" She said still excited. I sighed.

"But I _don't_ have a crush on him!"

"Yes, you do," she answered plainly.

"No, I don't," I responded slowly.

"Yes, you do."

"Nu-uhh." I know it's dumb to get in an argument about crushes with the love goddess, but I _don't_ have a crush on him. He's just nice, sweet, caring, smart, cute and...crap.

"Yuh-huh!" Gods, we sounded like first-graders. "I _know_ you do for two reasons. One, my _job_ is to make people fall in love," Good point. "Two, I can hear your thoughts, Kasey." Another good point.

"Fine! The reason I don't want to suddenly get everything I didn't have before is because then I would have to leave Raymond! Happy now?" I admitted half because it was basically true, half just to get off the topic. But I never straight-out said that I liked him, which I don't think I do.

She smile and nodded her head. "So was that my task? To admit that I have my 'first crush?'" I asked using air quotes. If you haven't already noticed, I use them a lot.

"No, I just wanted you to admit that so that your options are a little clearer." She smiled. "Now, look in the mirror."

I did as I was told and turned around facing the super oversized mirror. "Just look at yourself for a while and debate your options. This is my task for you. Make your choice." It sounded more like a demand instead of information. I widened my eyes a bit.

"But I haven't even done all four tasks yet," I complained. "I still have Lady Artemis'."

"Well if you're so anxious to complete Artemis' task then maybe that means you should just go join the Hunt," she remarked kind of sassy-like. She turned around and sat down in her chair and started looking at herself in a mirror that she snapped up. "Take your time," she said more to the mirror than to me.

I sighed in frustration and looked back at myself.

The first things that I noticed were all my features that couldn't make up their minds either. My hair couldn't decide if it wanted to be curly and fiery red or sweet and straight blonde so it settled on a wavy and unmanageable strawberry blonde. My eyes contradict each other by one being a chocolate brown and the other being a crystal blue. My body in general left me at a height that was too tall to be "short and cute" but too short to be "tall and pretty". Even my freckles couldn't make a decision on whether to be noticeable or not because they were just splashed randomly over my nose and some on my cheeks. All of them we're pretty faint so you could only see them if you came up close. It was in my blood to not be able to make decisions! Now the love goddess is forcing me to choose who to be claimed by for the rest of my existence which _could_ be forever if I were to choose Artemis. That's _a lot_ of pressure.

I groaned and threw my hands in the air. "Why do I have to choose now?" Aphrodite looked up from her mirror and sighed.

"Well, you gave up quicker than I thought." She stood back up and took her place behind me facing the mirror with her hands gently rubbing my shoulders. "Just think. If you stay and choose either myself or Apollo, you could have a life full of love." She smiled.

"If you stay and choose Athena, you get to stay with Raymond but my sister goddess _insists _that the mind rules over the heart. _Totally_ untrue but most of her kids think the same," she said. Aphrodite sighed but continued. "And if you choose the Hunters, the Hunters' Rules clearly state that you are to have no relationships with any boys which I think is a total waste of being a girl," she rolled her eyes and I smirked. "But," she said. "You would live forever unless you fall in battle, you would have life-long sisterhood, _and_ you could go out and see the world." Her voice eventually fell to a whisper.

I knit my eyebrows together in thought. "I still don't get why you're trying to persuade me to join the Hunt. I mean, Apollo and Athena both tried to get me to join them. You're telling me amazing things about your exact opposite way of life." Aphrodite smiled and let out a small, musical giggle.

"I guess Artemis _is_ my opposite." She laughed again. I grinned quickly before I let it drop.

The cabin fell silent except for the music playing which I recognized as "Kiss the Rain". When I was about six, I once woke up from a nightmare and left my cabin to go to Chiron—because he felt like my parent at the time and that's what parents do—and as I was passing the Apollo cabin, I heard the piano playing this song. So snuck up to the door and pressed my ear against it to listen. I ended up falling asleep listening on the deck. But when I woke back up, I was back in my bed and it was morning. To this day, I still don't know who carried me back.

"Well I would still be thrilled to have you as my daughter," Aphrodite said, snapping me out of my memory. When I looked at her in the mirror, she looked relaxed and…happy. I'm sure the song was getting to her too because she was speaking no louder than a whisper. And her voice was soothing instead of giddy like it usually is. "But I think that you would have a great life as a Hunter as well as my daughter." She suddenly turned her head and looked at me and smiled. I couldn't help smiling back.

"So, I'm curious. Why am I like your other daughters?" I asked.

She smiled more like her giddy self again. "You're more alike them than you know."

She dropped our hands and walked over to the mirror. I stayed where I was. "How so?" I asked again.

"Simple as this." Aphrodite smiled at me and her eyes sparkled. "You all have the same mother."

The song ended and the cabin fell silent.

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**How did I do ? please tell me what you think ! -kenna(:**


	14. Why?

**I am sooo sorry that I haven't updated ! But i promise that I have no more camps for the rest of summer. But once school starts , I might have some troubles updating very often ... but i'll do my best ! anyways , here's the chapter which will explain just about everything(: enjoy !**_

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"So, I'm curious. Why am I like your other daughters?" I asked.

_She smiled more like her giddy self again. "You're more alike them than you know."_

_She dropped our hands and walked over to the mirror. I stayed where I was. "How so?" I asked again._

_"Simple as this." Aphrodite smiled at me and her eyes sparkled. "You all have the same mother."_

_The song ended and the cabin fell silent._

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The cabin was silent for what felt like hours until I was able to breathe. "So, y-you're m-my…" I stuttered. So many emotions flooded through me at that moment: happiness, sadness, ignoration, relief. But mostly, just all-around ticked off. I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white. What made me finally burst was that I was standing there in shock and Aphrodite—my _mother—_was just standing there, staring at herself in a mirror, acting like nothing happened. I pondered these thoughts for a little while longer until I felt like I couldn't hold it anymore.

"Why!_"_ I asked firmly.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You know what I said! Three letters, one syllable! _Why!" _I wanted to scream and kick and have a temper tantrum just like I did when I was seven. I wanted to rip every single perfect strand of her hair right out. I felt like I could take Ares in a fight with my eyes closed and my hands tied. I felt neglected and ignored and hurt. But, of course, she didn't seem to care much.

"Kasey, honey, calm down," Aphrodite said calmly.

"DON'T TELL ME TO BE CALM!" I screeched. Aphrodite was just standing there like this was nothing new. "WHY!" I demanded.

She faced me and raised both eyebrows. As she was about to answer I decided not to even let her explain. I just kept going. "I have been here all my life! Nearly _thirteen years_ I've waited to be claimed and you knew all along! You probably _knew _that I was thinking that my godly parent didn't care about me! Why didn't you claim me then! _WHY!" _Tears were building up in my eyes and threatening to pour out. I drooped my head and tried to wipe them away.

I could hear Aphrodite making a _tsk tsk _noise and I looked up even with my eyes probably all red and puffy. "You seem to have quite a temper. Not one of your better traits." I couldn't believe this. She was _totally _avoiding my question like it didn't even matter.

At the moment everything was blurry because my tears couldn't hold any longer and started spilling down my face. I needed to get my anger out somehow but I couldn't get words out because my throat was so dry from screaming. So instead I grabbed the nearest perfume bottle—sorry to whomever it was—and I threw it with all my strength straight at one of the mirrors. The bottle and the mirror shattered into a million pieces and one piece flew back and slit my hand just over the top layer of skin. It's stung but I ignored it as I crouched down on the floor and cried.

Every now and then I would let out a wail that I'm sure was ear piercing but I didn't care. With every screech my throat burned but it felt good somehow. My tears started to soak my jeans and shirt in different spots so I grabbed a fancy pillow off of one of the couches and proceded to get that wet as well.

I don't know how long I was there sobbing but eventually I was all cried out. I felt really dehydrated so I stood up and threw the now damp pillow across the room while keeping my eyes to the floor. I walked over to their mini fridge and grabbed a water bottle. I took a long gulp and splashed a little on my face to calm myself down because the cold felt nice and it brought my breathing back down to normal. But I still felt like an idiot. What kind of person breaks down infront of a goddess like that? That's what I decided to call her, just A Goddess or Aphrodite. My _Mother_ just filled me up with anger again.

After another gulp, I finally turned around to see Aphrodite still there in the same position that she was when I broke down. She was staring at herself in the mirror but instead of finding microscopic imperfections in her hair, make-up and clothes, she was just looking. Her hands were behind her back and she was just glancing like there wasn't even a mirror there.

I took a deep breath and walked up next to her. I tried to at least look at her through the mirror but my head wouldn't cooperate and it stayed down.

I was about to apologize for my break-down but I stopped myself. I felt no need to apologize. If anything, _she _should be apologizing to _me._ I clenched my fists until my nails imprinted marks into my palms. "Why?" I repeated.

The goddess seemed to snap out of her own little world and turned her head towards me. I'm sure that she was about to say something cute and innocent but I lifted my head up enough to glare at her in an I'm-_so_-not-in-the-mood-for-your-crap-right-now type of way.

Aphrodite closed her mouth and turned back towards the mirror. She sighed before responding. "Being perfect is hard work." Great way to start a speech. Just to prove my point I groaned and sat in a chair. She continued. "Not only do I have to worry about staying as beautiful as I am, but I also have to worry about everyone's love lives. That's why I like having kids who some of the work for me." She had this smug look on her face that annoyed me. She started walking around.

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"Well you know that all my children have the same ability that I do: the ability to control love. Not as powerful as mine, of course, but still." She smiled in pride.

"So?" I asked not bothing to hind the annoyance in my voice.

"I couldn't just claim you as my daughter because that would be too easy."

"Why would it be too easy?" I asked.

"Well what fun would it be if guys fell for you just because you were my daughter?" There's that smug smile again. I wanted to rip it off her face.

"Like I said, it's my job to make people fall in love, Kasey. That little Raymond boy and even that Apollo kid both fell for you the _instant_ they saw you. Even though it's not my doing of love magic I still _love_ your power!" she squealed.

"Great! So now I have two boys who I just met who think they're in love with me for me but they're _really_ under a spell! Yay!" I oozed sarcasm and fake enthusiasm.

Aphrodite air-brushed me away. "Oh, stop it. Sure, I haven't figured out why all a guy needs to do is look at you to fall in love bu-"

"Whoa!" I stopped her and held up my hands. "What?"

She shrugged. "My sons and daughters love magic can usually be used as they please. All they have to do is walk by whomever they want to fall for them. But for some reason, your magic is overly-powerful and uncontrollable. All a boy has to do is look at you and he falls. Hard," she said as if it weren't out of the ordinary.

I groaned. Sometimes I hate being a demigod. "So how many boys are 'in love' with me?" I wondered out loud.

"Like I said, any boy who looks at you falls head-over-heels almost instantly." She dramatically put her hand over her heart and sighed.

"Okay, this doesn't even deserve a sarcastic remark," I said while glaring. I was thinking about all the boys at camp who have never even met my eyes. It makes a lot more sense now that I think about it. They were intimidated by me, or they thought they were. Really they were just under that stupid spell. Then the thought came to me if this spell works on men as well. I had a slight picture of Chiron and Mr. D which I pushed away quickly in fear of what my teenage mind would come up with.

She tilted her head. "I would think that most girls, especially my daughters, would _love_ to hear that they have adoring boyfriends without even trying."

"Well of _course_ you would think that but guess what?" I paused. "_Not me," _I spat out.

She seemed slightly hurt but not too bothered by this. Just to show that, she shrugged. "Suit yourself."

I stood up. "So let me get this straight," I said getting back to the point. "You ignored all my prayers, all my pleas, and me _myself_ for twelve and a half years and let me think that maybe my parent forgot about me or maybe I was the child of a minor god for the past few months because you wanted to watch what I would do with _love-_" I said the word with noticeable disgust. "—if I we're to be adopted by some other god?" I started the question off trying to keep my voice low and even but by the end I was nearly shouting; again.

"Well when you put it that way it seems harsh," Aphrodite stated smugly.

"Ugh!" I screamed.

Without realizing it, I was pacing. I stomped back over to my seat and turned the chair so my back was facing her.

Aphrodite sighed and walked up behind me. She tried to put her hands on my shoulders again but I shrugged them off.

"Not _only _that," she said in a gentler voice. "I also want what's best for you. Like I said, I want you to explore your options."

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye to show her that I was listening. She continued. "Want to hear a secret?" I shrugged. "I've never actually enjoyed claiming my kids. I feel like I'm choosing their life _for _them, you know?" I sighed.

I wanted to say yes. I _tried_ to say yes. But logic came to my mouth before my mind did.

"But you still could've claimed me," I pointed out. "But instead you just kicked back and watched me suffer through life for your own entertainment." The words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them. But once they were out there, I didn't want to take them back. I felt like she should feel the pain that I was feeling all my life. I turned away.

I stared at the shattered glass that still needed to be picked up. A huge waft of perfume suddenly stuffed up my nose that nearly made me gag once again. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift off to random things.

The cabin was silent with only my breathing as a sound as far as I could tell. I couldn't hear if anything was going on outside because I was too far away from a window to hear. My throat was still dry and my jeans became uncomfortable from me slipping down in my seat.

I didn't realize how tired I was until I had to fight to open my eyes again. I didn't know how much time had passed or if I fell asleep or not. I did feel like I should say something. At least something that would break this tension that weighed me down. But instead, I did what my body felt like doing.

I got up and left with out a word.

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**better explained? i hope so(: still confused on something ? comment & i'll help you out(: I love feedback so comments are amazing ! -kenna(:**


	15. Pinky Promise

I was at that point in time when fairy tales existed and the floor was made of lava. Or, in my case, too young to hold a sword and the floor sometimes really _was_ made of lava. My hair was stick-straight and I couldn't reach my toothbrush without help from the big kids in my room. I never wore my shoes because I love the feeling of the grass tickling my feet as I wondered around.

I've never dared to go outside of the boundaries because one of my older cousins told me that there are six-year-old eating _dracaena_ just outside the bounds. I don't know what those are but I really don't want to find out.

The prettiest girl at camp was with her sisters brushing the hair of their dolls. I'm pretty sure that they're Aphrodite's daughters. I'm getting better at learning the gods' names.

I start twirling the five beads on my necklace while staring at the girls. I wasn't exactly jealous of them, more like intimidated.

The prettiest girl noticed me watching and stared back mid-brush. Her face was expressionless but it still seemed like she was thinking about something.

Our staring contest continued until the girl turned to one of her brunette sisters and giggled. She then placed her doll to the side and stood up with her eyes back on me. My breathing was even with her footsteps.

The girl was also barefoot and her dark hair was braided perfectly down her back. Her brown eyes were full of excitement and her skirt swayed around her legs. I nervously stroked my frizzy pigtails.

I don't know why I was so nervous. She has to be just like every other six-year-old here, right? Just a lot prettier. "Hello!" she said energetically. I bit my lip.

She tilted her head when I didn't respond. "I'm Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite." She smiled a million-dollar smile.

_The same cheeky, innocent smile that her mo—_our_ mother has. I just didn't realize how fake it was at the time._

I continuously reminded myself that she was just like everyone else here and forced a grin. "Hi," I said quietly. "I'm Kasey Gray. I'm undetermined." I bit my lip.

I stood there awkwardly rocking back and forth on my heels while Silena rambled. I tuned her out. I've never really been a people-person. I was too shy. Mainly I would stay in my cabin playing with my toys while the big kids in my cabin were out training. Chiron sometimes gives me small classes with a knife but I'm not very good at it. So the rest of the time he's teaching me to read and write. Two boys in my room, Connor and Travis, sometimes like to help out too. They even gave me a notebook to practice in. They're kind of mean sometimes but they never do anything as mean to me as they do other kids.

"—nice and I would love you to play dolls with us. You can have the Brunette Barbie." I lost control of my mind and heard what Silena was saying at the end. I didn't really know what to say so I just stared. She didn't wait for a response before she grabbed my hand and led me to her sisters.

"Girls, this is Carrie-"

"_Kasey_," I grummbled.

"-and I was thinking that she could play with us until training is over," Silena said smiling. The other girls nodded in agreement but we're smiling like they knew something. I hesitantly sat down between two blondes.

I tried to pay attention as Silena introduced her five sisters— two blondes and three brunettes. I was the only red-head. As the six of them continued their game, I stared at the grass.

I didn't even know what we were doing. I watched them through my bangs that fell in my face. They would laugh at nothing and fight about whose doll was the prettiest. They all had a small mirror that they would constantly look at themselves in. I could've sworn that they were already wearing make-up. I noticed that they all kept glancing at me for a moment then looking back down at their toys while grinning. I was beginning to get creeped out but I didn't say anything.

I don't know why they were so special. They're just demigods. Nothing more. It seems like people think they're better because they're pretty.

_At the moment, I was introduced to the cruel world of Popularity._

"So do you like camp so far, Kailey?" One of the blondes asked me. I think her name is Emma.

"Err…_Kasey_," I corrected again. "And I live here." Emma looked embarrassed.

"Oh, really? I've never seen you here before."

I shrugged just as the horn blew for lunch. The six of them all dramatically jumped in surprise while I just raised my eyebrows. "Oh my _gods_," a brunette—Calista, I think—said. "Chiron _really _needs to turn that thing down. It scares me every time!" Her sisters nodded in agreement. I rolled my eyes.

I was personally thankful for the horn for two reasons; one, because I was hungry and two, because I couldn't last another second in the world of Aphrodite. I've never been that girl. Even though we're six and we're supposed to think that boys have cooties and blue is a boy color and pink is a girl color, I was smart enough to ignore that. I would gladly choose jeans and an old t-shirt over a frilly summer dress.

After two freak-outs about dirt on their designer dresses and a group reapplying of lip gloss, they finally headed towards Mess Hall.

The Hall was loud as usual and some kids had already started eating. One girl and three boys were standing at the front of the hall by Chiron and Mr. D. The girl was about my age and the boys a little bit older. I kept walking to my table.

I was about to sit down when Silena cleared her throat. "Are you coming?" She gestured towards table eight where her sisters we're already claiming their spots. I looked around to my cabin-mates for help but all the boys were staring at her like she was a jewel and all the girls were staring at me with envy in their eyes. I gulped and followed Silena to her table.

It was covered in a silk, white tablecloth and lit scented-candles lined the center. My feet dangled over the side of my chair. I tried to hold my breath.

It was a long lunch. My mind when in and out of the conversations, Chiron introduced the four new campers—the girl and two of the boys were undetermined and the fourth boy went to the Hephaestus table—and I noticed about six boys staring at me. I didn't know if it was because they thought I was claimed by Aphrodite or because I was a Nobody suddenly sitting with the pretty girls. Probably both.

Lunch was almost over and my eyes were still glued to the floor. "Kasey, what do you think?" Silena asked loudly in my ear. I looked up to see six pairs of eyes on me.

"What?"

She sighed. "Who is the cutest Backstreet Boy?"

I raised an eyebrow.

Some of the girls' jaws dropped and one gasped. Silena smirked. "Wow, you really _have _been living here all your life, haven't you?" she said kind of sassy. With that, she dropped her fork and grabbed my wrist. The other girls got up just as Silena did and followed us out. I thought that we would get in trouble for leaving lunch early but nobody said anything. They just stared. As we passed Chiron, he seemed just as confused as I was.

All the years that I've lived here, I've only been into the Hermes cabin. So walking into cabin eight was like going from a McDonald's hamburger to caviar. The whole cabin was pink and posters of different bands and movie starts were coving the walls. The Aphrodite girls immediately ran to their jewel-encrusted mirrors—each with their names on them.

Silena lead me to her mirror on the end. "_These_," She pointed to a small picture of a band. "are the Backstreet Boys. Now, which is the cutest?" To be totally honest, none of them were very cute, so I just shrugged. Silena pursed her lips.

"I can't help but notice that you're not much of a girl." Harsh. "You're really lucky that you have us." Silena gestured to the other girls who glanced over and smiled. I fake-grinned back. "Now Kasey, if you're going to be playing with us, you have to look like us," she stated. The other girls nodded in agreement. They all surrounded me and sat me down in Silena's chair.

"Um, ok?" It sounded more like a question. "What does that mean exactly?"

They all looked at each other and smiled. "MAKE OVER!" they all squealed at once. I caught my breath. _Oh shoot._

I decided to let them have their fun. Mostly because Emma shoved my head down into the sink before I could run away.

They plucked and ripped and applied and rinsed and dressed and cut and just about anything else you could possibly do in an hour and a half. I somehow got used to the perfume clogging up my nose by the time they all stepped back.

I felt like I had a mask of make-up on with foundation, mascara, eyeliner, blush and lip gloss, my legs and upper-lip were hairless and I had a fresh manicure and pedicure. I was put into an orange, polka-dotted summer dress and plain white flip-flops. Fake pearls were draped around my neck and clip-on earrings were hurting my ears. My hair was slightly curled and shorter and I had brown colored-contacts in. I glanced at myself in one of the many mirrors and nearly screamed. I looked fifteen. May I remind you that I'm six?

I looked back over at the girls. Each of them had a wide smile on their face and some were bobbing up and down. "_Oh my gods!"_ they all screamed. I kept my face flat.

"You look amazing!" Calista squealed.

"_So_ cute," Emma said.

"You've got the look down," Silena noted. "But now you've got to learn how to work it." She smirked before walking to the far side of the cabin.

"The way you walk is how you get noticed." Silena's face fell serious and confident as she walked towards the rest of us like a model.

"What's the point of getting noticed?" I asked softly.

The followers stared at me once again like I was from a different planet. Silena smirked like every time I don't know something about the World of Aphrodite amuses her to no end. "For the boys, of course." The followers giggled.

"_Ew_," I murmured to myself.

Silena led the way out the door with her little fan club fanning out behind her. I stayed a few steps behind them trying to cover my face until I could sneak away to the bathroom.

I glanced through my fingers to see many boys stopped in their tracks and girls eyes filled with jealousy. You would think we were in high school. We were walking randomly around for about a minute before I realized that most of the boys were staring at _me._ I gagged then dashed to my cabin.

My goal was just to get to my cabin without anyone seeing me so I didn't notice the other person until we were both on the ground rubbing our heads.

I groaned. "Oh my gods, I'm _so _sorry." I stood up and offered my hand to the girl that I knocked into. Her hair was a light brown and her eyes were dark green from what I could tell. She was shading her eyes from the sun and giggling quietly to herself. "Are you okay?"

She took my hand and I pulled her up before she replied, "I'm okay. You?" I nodded. I realized that she was the new undetermined girl from lunch. "I'm Aubrey."

"Kasey."

"Nice to meet you, Kasey." I guess that she had just learned manners.

There was a short, awkward silence of each of us just rocking back and forth on our heels before she broke it. "So, um, are you…daughter of the beauty goddess?" Her voice got really soft by the end. She was probably still having trouble believing any of this. I know what it looks like because Chiron shows me all the time. According to him, I was fortunate enough to be born into the world of gods.

I looked down at my dress. "Actually no, I'm undetermined. Aphrodite's daughters just gave me a make over." I tried to hide the disgust in my voice but it didn't work too well. Fortunately, Aubrey giggled.

"What? You don't like makeovers? Not that I've ever actually _had _one." She shrugged.

I scrunched my nose and shook my head. "I was actually on my way to my cabin to wash it off."

"Well, I haven't been there yet. Could you maybe show me?" She smiled sweetly.

I couldn't help but smiled back as I nodded and led the way to cabin eleven.

Aubrey and I went through half of a roll of paper towels and a box of tissues before we could finally pry all the slop off of my face. My face was red from all the rubbing and my ear lobes had indents from the clips. I didn't want anyone to think that I shaved my legs so I slipped on some stretchy pants and a t-shirt. Aubrey helped me brush out whatever stuff they put in my hair and she taught me how to take out the contacts because she'd watched her dad do it many times. I finally looked in the one mirror and sighed in relief.

"That's better. Thanks," I told her.

"You're welcome. You look a lot more like a real person." She smiled that sweet smile again and I smiled back.

After I gave her a bunk to sleep on—right next to mine—the dinner bell sounded and I led the way to Mess Hall.

We were walking in step before I heard a voice coming up behind me. "Kasey! Where did you go? We were almost to the beach when I turned around and you we-" Silena seemed to notice Aubrey.

"Who's this?"

"This is Aubrey, my…friend." I looked at her to see it that was what I should call her. She just smiled and nodded.

Silena's face twisted. "Oh," she grumbled. "Well, never mind that. C'mon, dinner's starting." She started to pull my wrist towards the Hall but Aubrey stopped her.

"Can't you tell that Kasey doesn't want to be one of your little sisters?" She grasped my shoulders and pulled me back to her. Silena still had a hold of my wrist.

Silena faced Aubrey and glared. "How would you know?" she said in a sassy voice.

"Because I'm not a meany-butt like you!" she shot back. "And besides, as far as I know, she wouldn't be able to sit with you anyways. It's _dinner_ time, which means that all campers sit at their own tables."

Silena smirked. "Who cares about rules? Rules are meant to be broken." She tugged on my wrist which caused me to stumble a few inches towards her.

"I say we let Kasey decide," Aubrey stated.

"Fine." Silena turned her eyes towards me. "Kasey, who do you want to hang out with? Me?" She gracefully flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Or _her?" _She filled the word with disgust.

I turned my attention towards Aubrey whose eyes were soft and encouraging and confident. Silena's were fierce and angry. I took a deep breath and turned my full body towards Silena.

"I'm sorry Silena, but I will never be an Aphrodite girl."

She tightened her lips and grunted before storming off.

I sighed. Aubrey hooked her arm through mine and giggled. "I say we make a pact."

"What's a pact?" I asked.

"A promise that we both have to keep." She stopped walking and turned towards me with her pinky stuck out. "Let's promise that neither of us will ever get tangled up with the Aphrodite girls ever again."

I giggled and hooked my pinky with hers. "I promise." With that, we skipped the rest of the way to dinner.

_Over time, Silena became nicer and her and the rest of the Aphrodite girls blended in with any other camper. When Aubrey and I were seven, she was claimed by Lady Demeter and moved out of our cabin. At eight, she was sent on her first quest and decided to move back with her dad when all went well. Aubrey was the only person at camp that I've ever connected with. I felt that the only way to stay close to her was to keep my promise. I guess that I took it a little too far—I wouldn't talk to any of them, I wouldn't look at any of them, I wouldn't even go anywhere _near _them. I cut down training up to the point that I stopped all together because the number of Aphrodite's kids got higher and they would spread out over camp. _

_I'm sorry Aubrey. I broke our pinky promise without even trying._

_Sincerely,_

_Kasey Brooklynn Gray_

**Just so the ending makes more sence , the whole thing was Kasey's memory, but she was writing it down in her journal. **

**My birthday was this past saturday so you know what would be an amazing present ? reviews(: you guys make my day ! -kenna(:**


	16. Sudden love Spell

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while , with school & homework & sports I didn't have the time . Anyways , I also had writers block during this chapter so hopefully its good enough ! enjoy(:**

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Unfortunately, Aphrodite decided to claim me anyways. I had to tell Athena and Apollo that I couldn't be their kid even if I wanted to. They didn't seem surprised that Aphrodite got what she wanted.

I've been keeping my eyes glued to the ground so that I wouldn't look at any boy staring at me. I thought I was used to being looked at weird, but then I discovered the _actual _reason that they were looking at me weird.

Both Raymond and Lee have been trying to talk to me ever since I left the cabin yesterday. Instead, I just kept my mouth shut and made my way to my own cabin for my last night there. I moved into the Aphrodite cabin this morning.

My new sisters were thrilled to be able to give me a makeover, but this time they just snapped their fingers and used their pretty little magic that I now shared with them.

"'Never going to be an Aphrodite girl' indeed," Silena mocked, stepping back once again to admire her work. I didn't question how she remembered that—even though I did to— and I didn't laugh at the irony, I just emotionlessly walked to the pristine master bathroom and washed all the make-up off my face and changed back into my clothes.

After I stepped out, my new sisters started to ask me questions like "What happed with our mom?" or "Why did you wash off your make-up?" but Aphrodite appeared and motioned for them to stay quiet and get out of my way as I left the girly cabin.

The late-morning sun was shining and made the snow look like a million diamonds scattered on the ground. I stomped on them with my boots.

I bumped into Lilly as I was wondering around. She could tell by my expression that I didn't want to talk about anything that has happened in the last two days. So she did most of the talking and I just listened. Neither of us really knew where we were going so we just followed each other around in circles avoiding the swords battles around us.

Lilly was telling some story about her times in the Hunt when I realized that I didn't really know much about her. "Question," I cut her off mid-story. "Where were you before you joined the Hunt?"

She tilted her head. "Actually, I was living with my dad in Salt Lake City."

"When was that?" I asked.

"You won't get freaked out?" she asked nervously.

"Promise."

She sighed. "The last time I saw him was on my fourteenth birthday in 1955."

For some reason I didn't have trouble believing that. I let out a breath before I said: "Okay. Then what?"

She twisted up her mouth then relaxed it. With a turn on her heel, she started on the same path down to the old stump. I followed.

As soon as we were both comfortably seated on the same stump that she told me about Artemis' offer, she finally talked.

"Sorry, I don't really like a lot of people to hear it," she said.

"That's okay, I get it. So then what?" I repeated.

She turned her torso towards me. "My dad was put in jail for counterfeiting. He's always had an obsession with gambling. So one time he gambled… a lot."

"How much?" I asked cautiously.

She grumbled something while looking at the ground. "Huh?" I asked.

Lilly sighed before meeting my eyes. "Thirty-thousand dollars."

My eyes grew big. "He gambled _thirty-thousand _dollars! On what!"

"He never told me what he was gambling on or why but after that we went into debt. Like, deep debt. Eventually, we lost heat, his car and started cutting back on food just to keep our apartment. But one day, I came home from school to find the heat on and grocery bags filled with food to celebrate Thanksgiving with because it was coming up that Thursday. But not only a turkey and mashed potatoes, but also stuffing and cranberries and rolls and green beans and gravy and decorations and anything else you could want on Thanksgiving. Of course I was shocked because I was used to coming home and finding something _not _there. My dad was standing by the table smiling. When I asked he just said that he got a well-paying job at a local power plant.

"We had the best Thanksgiving dinner making many toasts to our good fortune and I didn't think anything of it, until I came home the next week on my birthday to the police taking my dad away. I demanded to know why they were doing this but they just told me 'Sweetie, we're sorry to tell you but you father's a criminal. We're going to take you to an orphanage where you'll be taken care of.'" Lilly mocked in a deep voice.

"Anyway, my dad made his one phone call to me at the orphanage where he explained that he never got a job and that our 'good fortune' came from fake money that he got from one of his buddies. But luckily a satyr was at the orphanage and took me to camp before my life got too miserable."

I let this information sink in. I started to feel really bad for her as I realized how hard her life must've been. Having an obsessive gambling dad is one thing, but you know when your life is bad when he gambles his way nearly to losing the house and getting himself arrested because he couldn't handle it. Yeah, that must suck.

"When I got there, Artemis saw a future in me right away and I accepted. Been a Hunter ever since." She smiled.

"That's kind of sad," I said.

She shrugged. "I'm much happier here. I learned to just out my past behind me and be grateful with what I have; The Hunters. You know, they're the only family I've got. I don't know what I would do without them."

I suddenly got why Aphrodite wanted me to join the Hunt. She knew that I'm not a classic Aphrodite daughter but she must still want me to have a family and friends.

I looked at the Hunters from Lilly's point of view. She joined them because Artemis believed in her and she wanted to have eternal life with friends and family. That actually didn't sound bad. That's when I realized that she was in the same position that I am now: can't trust your family and friends that are all gone.

I sighed. "One more question," I said.

"Yes?"

"Who's your godly parent?"

"Oh, its…" She scrunched her eyebrows. "That's weird. I…I can't remember."

I raised an eyebrow. She shrugged but still had a slightly worried look on her face.

In the distance, the lunch bell went off. We both stood up and started walking to the Hall.

The air was still sad and Lilly was still worried. So naturally, I tripped over a root half-way back. I'm just that graceful.

* * *

"Can we talk?"

I was dragging my feet through the sand on the beach. It was the last day that the gods were here. All the other campers were up saying goodbye to them. Except Raymond.

I grunted before turning around, careful not to meet his eyes. "What?"

"I haven't talked to you since you found out that you're a daughter of Aphrodite. In any case, I would think that you would want to talk to me _more_." He smirked. I rolled my eyes.

To be totally honest, I did want to talk to him. I wanted him to be funny and easy to be around like he was before I was claimed. But I'm sure he was only like that so he could be seen with me. Or worse.

Besides, if I started to like him, I could just _make _him like me back, even if I wasn't trying to. And I'm sure he already thinks he's in love with me. But I'm only twelve for Zeus' sake! It wasn't worth it.

"Why do you like me?" I spit out.

A light pink appeared on his cheeks. "Wh-what do you mean?" he stuttered. "We're friends...right?"

I crossed my arms. "I'm the daughter of Aphrodite. I know this kind of stuff."

There was an awkward silence as I climbed up on a near-by rock and sat down with my back facing him. The ocean was calm and the sun shined through a block of clouds in the distance. Chiron let Mr. D get rid of all the snow which he did gratefully. Then he grumbled something about "hating being told what to do" and took his place on the Big House deck.

The minutes added up and I was sure he left until gentle fingers stroked my hair. I turned around to see who it was and momentarily forgot about the Sudden-love Spell. Big mistake.

"Wow, your eyes," Lee said in a trance. "They...they glitter." His hair was cropped and jelled in the front to point it up. His eyes were fixed on mine. Something was pulling inside of me. Like a connection pull, except literally. I tried to fight it. I tried to turn my head but I couldn't move.

I fixed just my eyes somewhere else and caught my sisters huddled together on the far side of the beach, watching. I glared at them.

I closed my eyes as tight as I could to make the tugging stop but it didn't, and Lee didn't get any farther away. Instead, I felt him cup my face and he smashed my lips to his. I opened my eyes in shock and shoved his shoulders back as hard as I could.

The tugging seemed to stop but we were both breathing heavily. I was too shocked to say anything. "Kasey, oh my gods, I-" I didn't let him finish. Without looking in his eyes again in fear of what would happen, I ran. Passed my sisters who were in mixed-emotion, passed some crying campers and passed Chiron who I'm sure was watching the whole thing.

The shock in my mind turned to rage. I meant what I said when I was six: I'm not an Aphrodite girl and I never will be. Of course, I couldn't do anything about it. Tears stung my eyes but I refused to let them take over my vision.

My emotions changed again to fear as I realized that I wasn't sure where I was going. I never know where I'm going when I want to be by myself. I can't run away because I've never been anywhere but here. My secret room in the Big House was discovered. No _way _am I going back to my cabin. I don't know where I'm going. I never do. Not when I'm running away from my problems, and not in life.

I don't have a plan for life. The moment I turn twenty-one, Chiron kicks me out. I have no family to go to because I don't even want to know the name of my dad, I don't know where Manhattan is so I can't go to Aubrey for help and I can't get a job because I don't have a resume because I've never _done _anything!

I started hyperventilating which made running a lot harder. Finally I took a rest somewhere in the strawberry fields. I was breathing heavily which started to slow down before an arrow nearly pierced my head. I let out a small shriek and flashed my head in the direction of where it came from. I saw a silhouette of a girl in her arching position. As she came into view with a sorry look on her face, I recognized her as Lady Artemis.

"I'm sorry Kasey. You would think the goddess of Archery would be able to tell the difference between a camper and dinner." She shrugged. I lifted an eyebrow still shaking.

"I've always liked hunting here, so I decided to do one more round before I leave with my girls," she answered my unasked question.

I stood up and looked into her golden eyes. They were so natural and calm that I relaxed. She shifted into her twelve-year-old stage which helped even more.

"Is something wrong, Kasey?" she asked. I couldn't think fast enough to all of the things that I _were _going wrong. My mind was clustered with memories of lonely years, Aphrodite, when Audrey left, the Sudden-love Spell and of course, my lips, that are still tingling, from my stolen first kiss.

"Artemis," I blurted without thinking about it. She squinted her eyets just a touch. "Lady Artemis," I corrected. She relaxed and listened up.

I took a deep breath. "I accept your offer. I want to serve you as a Hunter of Artemis."

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**Finally got to the point(: I can't garentee when the next time I update will be ... I'll do my best ! Reviews would be awesome ! -kenna(:**


	17. Day One

**So my excuses are probably the same as just about everyone else who hasn't updated in forever - school and family and holidays and all that stuff ... so all I can say is sorry ! & I hope all you guys' holidays were as amazing as mine (: happy 2011 !**

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My first day didn't go so well.

Artemis accepted my vows and I met up with the other Hunters and left camp without saying goodbye. I had a quick glace back and saw Raymond standing there on the beach. At first I felt bad but then I remembered that the only reason that he wanted to see me was because of that stupid love spell and I quickly turned around and didn't look back the rest of the trip.

The first night was over-whelming being somewhere besides camp. I spent the whole time in my tent which I shared with Lilly. Everyone else was outside laughing and telling hunting stories with Artemis. I've never had to react to too much change before so of course I was cowering in the corner. But I wasn't letting myself regret. I've only ridden on a boat, walked through thick woods, watched the rest of the Hunters bring down two deer and a monster, and help set up camp for the night and it's already better than everything I've ever experienced back at camp.

When I woke up to a blazing sun the next morning, I was still sitting in the corner hugging my knees. There were two perfectly made s'mores on a plate by my feet that had gone cold by now. I took a bite anyway. Lilly was still asleep with one of those night masks on in her sleeping bag.

My thoughts started to go blurry when I started to think about camp. I already couldn't exactly remember what Raymond's face looked like. Its like in a dream where you know who you're looking at, but you don't see their features-only their basic outline.

I silently groaned when I realized that I was thinking of Raymond again. The night before I couldn't get my mind off the look on his face when he was standing on the beach watching me leave. He looked confused, hurt and, of course, in love. But I knew that was fake which was the only thing that was keeping me from making an Iris Message back just to say hi.

I was now too awake with the sugar from that s'more so I quietly crawled out of my tent only to be met face-to-face with Artemis. She was already dressed with her arrows on her back, her bow in hand and her auburn hair neatly braided down her back.

She smirked at me as if excited for something. "Yes, Lady Artemis?" I whisper-asked. She jutted her head behind her and winked before walking away to the other tents. I looked where she gestured and sighed. There was a pile of old armor, dented helmets, chipped bows and arrows thrown together by the burnt out fire pit.

"Grab one of each!" Artemis called over her shoulder. "Welcome to Hunter's Boot Camp!" I heard giggles coming from all the tents, including mine. I turned around with my eyebrow raised to see Lilly sitting up and trying to cover her mouth.

"Sorry," she said then continued to giggle. "We just—" (giggle) "—haven't had a new Hunter in a while. And we've _never_ had an—" (giggle) "—_Aphrodite_ girl." She ended her little statement with one sharp laugh.

"Lilly?" I asked slowly. "What exactly _is _Hunter's Boot Camp?"

Looking just like Artemis as she did, Lilly just tilted her head towards the pile of old equipment and winked. "You don't think those helmets dented themselves, do you?"

* * *

All the stories told that when you become a Hunter, you get your skills and knowledge of shooting an arrow and hunting right away. Well you get the skills. Not the knowledge. What I mean by that is you'd be perfectly capable of shooting down a buck in the woods or a monster by a cliff if you knew what you were doing. I, for one, did not.

Going through the basics was difficult. My ADHD said "Just get up and go!" while Artemis said "Sit down and pay attention." So I was stuck on the log jittering in my seat with a dozen girls smiling at me. I was afraid to find out what they were laughing about but I was more afraid to ask.

"—keep your shoulders locked and… are you even listening?" I looked up and realized that I zoned out for who knows how long. To make it worse, Artemis wasn't in her cute 12-year-old body anymore. Now she was in her intimidating-God-like-with-eyes-that-could-kill body. I personally like her better when she's cute.

I didn't know what to do so I just bowed my head and mumbled an apology. "Fine. If you think you'll be okay without the basic knowledge of hunting, prove it," she said firmly. I saw the rest of the Hunters face's light up with surprise and excitement.

I had already picked out a helmet that wasn't too badly dented and armor that fit me loosely around the waist. So all I needed was a bow and arrows. Artemis led me to the pile and picked out the first bow she saw. It was painted silver and nearly as tall as me. Maybe a few inches shorter but that's about it. She also grabbed a handful of rotted arrows and an arrow case that was painted copper and quickly slung it around me.

Next I found myself in a small clearing, only big enough to fit a small car. "Stand here and be careful," Artemis told me.

As she started to walk away I asked, "Why do I need to be car—whoa!" I got my answer as an arrow nearly sliced my arm. I quickly stumbled out of the way and tripped over my own feet. I looked over to see where it came from but I couldn't see anything. All I heard were familiar giggles. I groaned.

"Sorry about this Kasey," I heard Lilly call out from somewhere to my right just as two more arrows landed with perfect aim right by my elbow and thigh which scared the hell out of me. I bolted upright. More arrows came randomly from there. Some I could tell were just to scare me by shooting high in the air across the clearing. Others I'm lucky I saw before they could kill me.

I felt helpless as I ran around the mini field looking for a way out. But every time that I tried to run out, a arrow would come from right in front of me and knock me back onto the grass.

One came from my right and hit me square in the side, knocking me back over. The whole right side of my torso started stinging and I grunted. Another came and hit my helmet right above my ear. It felt like a sharp rock was thrown at a hundred miles an hour except ten times worse. I was shaky standing up but no arrows just then was purposely shot towards me. When I looked around the clearing all I could see were arrows, but none of them were hitting trees or just falling to the ground. All of them were shot from one side then landing behind a tree on the other where another arrow would be shot from. I figured that they were being reused by different Hunters.

My first thought was to knock the arrows to the ground with my bow so that they couldn't be used again, but I scratched that once two more arrows hit me dead center and made me topple over again.

Staring up at the sky for a split second gave me any idea. I crawled to the center of the clearing and looked around to make sure there were no arrows coming at me for that moment. Without having any idea what I was doing. I grabbed three arrows out of my case and put them all on the bow. I aimed it towards the sky and let all of them go.

The first one hit an arrow out and dropped it to the ground next to me. The second split one in half and knocked another off course. The third hit two in a row and made them both fall on my head which didn't feel good at all.

I continued to shoot arrows randomly into the sky and hope they would knock into a different one. Almost every one hit one of the Hunter's arrows in some way. Soon the ground around me was almost completly covered in damaged arrows. I realized that I _did_ have skills, I just had no idea how to use them.

As I was distracted by this cool thought, I didn't realize anymore arrows coming towards me until one hit me directly in my left hip. It felt like a car rammed me at full speed and pain immediatly ran up my side. I could already tell the arrow was shot by Artemis herself just to teach me the importance of listening.

So now I'm back here, sitting on the log listening to the basics while the other girls laughed. Except this time I was holding an ice pack to the spot that Artemis shot me and munching on a square of ambrosia.

My ADHD was keeping me from listening to the history of hunting again but I zoned out with my eyes on Artemis so she couldn't tell. I hoped.

I could tell that being an Aphrodite girl in this process wasn't going to work to my advantage.

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**Reviews would be awesome (:**


	18. Five Years Later

_Five years Later..._

Those hard hours turned into days. Those days turned into weeks. Months. Before I knew it, it was April fifteenth—three days before my seventeenth birthday. Of course, technically I was still twelve. But hey, just last month we celebrated Hunter Amberleigh's seventy-second birthday. And she's just as short, skinny and blonde as she was when she first joined the Hunt at thirteen.

When this thought of me turning seventeen popped into my head, at first it scared me. Think about what you would feel like if you were still only 5'2'' but turning seventeen. But then I relaxed because I realized that I had this same thought when I was turning sixteen. And fifteen.

The greatest thrill within these past years was the war about three years ago. Thalia joined the Hunt just a few days after I did. I've got to admit; now I know why the Hunters were laughing at me on my first day. Anyways, turns out that Thalia was nothing to laugh at because she took Zoë Nightshade's spot as lieutenant not too much later. So Thalia was our guide through the war.

After our—I have to admit, surprising—victory over the Titan's, we had some funerals to attend. I regretted not being able to get to know my sister Silena while I was at hers. It felt a little awkward sitting in the middle of my blood-sisters while being a Huntress, but I still showed some emotion and ended up crying a little. As I was there, I realized that Aphrodite had claimed a lot more kids since the last time I was at camp two years before. I now even have a brother who I briefly met. His name is James. I didn't bother to find out who our new head counselor was, because truly, I didn't care.

Next up was one that my mother made me go to. I begged her not to make me but since "she's my mother and she can easily make my life miserable what with being a beautiful goddess and all" I ended up sitting behind a bunch of Apollo kids who were mourning over the loss of their brother, Lee. I do have to admit. I came close to crying at the beginning, but I quickly got over it. For most of it, I kept my head down and tried to block everything out while I felt my mom's eyes on the back of my neck. But I will admit, I had one little drop of salty liquid drip from my eye towards the end. Another cabin mate started playing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz which was his favorite song to play on the guitar. I knew this because it was that song that he was playing the first time that I was in Apollo's cabin and drinking Blackberry Izze **(Chapter 9)**. I quickly wiped it away, jumped up from my seat as soon as it was over, and two hours later I was setting up camp with my Hunters in the woods.

Raymond was rumored to be on a quest at that time so I still haven't seen him since I first joined the Hunt and left him on the beach. I was pretty glad that I wouldn't have to go through that drama though.

So I wake up this morning just hoping to eat some pancakes made over the fire, blast a few monsters, catch a squirrel or two, maybe even a deer, then peacefully pack up camp and move to another location for the night. Just like every other day. Really, is that too much to ask for?

Instead I got hit with a surprise bomb. Well a few actually.

First of all, Artemis was there, which I found out later only meant that something was going on. Second, the rest of the Hunter's had already taken down all the tents except for mine and Lilly's. Third, there were no pancakes in sight. Only granola bars.

Artemis turned towards me and smiled. I half-bowed to her by just dipping my head. "Good morning Lady Artemis. It's been a while."

"Yes it has," she replied. "Here, eat up." She tossed me one of the granola bars which I first juggled then caught with both hands. That earned a snicker from Lilly behind me who started to roll up our tent and sleeping bags.

I tore away some of the wrapper and took a bite. "No offence, Lady Artemis," I said after I finished chewing. "but, why are you here?"

She smiled and walked towards me with her arms out. "Well for my Hunters' birthday, of course!" She hugged me close and I awkwardly hugged back. Mostly because she was still a few inches taller than me even though she looked twelve like me.

"Well, thank you, but my birthdays not until Friday," I reminded her.

"I know," she said as she released her grasp. "But I still need to be here to lead you guys back to camp. That's my job, you know?"

"_WHAT!_" I screeched.

She looked surprised. "Well gods Kasey, I figured that you didn't _want _to get lost being so far away from camp so I'm just doing my job."

"No, no. Not that. We're going back to _camp?_" I couldn't help but say the last word with disgust. I don't know why it came out that way, shock maybe, but I didn't try and defend myself.

Artemis first raised an eyebrow then rolled her eyes and sighed. "Close your eyes," she ordered to us. We all did as we were told and turned away from her as she transformed back into her adult-goddess self. In this form, she seemed a lot more threatening and intimidating. I guessed that that's what she was going for.

"You didn't tell her?" Artemis called out over the sounds of packing up camp. Every girl seemed to be trying to look too busy to respond. They were all hiding their faces behind their hair or "having difficulties" packing up tents even though they've done this a thousand times. Some literally.

Thalia looked the guiltiest. Her mouth was fixed in a nervous line and her eyes were wide. She slowly turned on her heel and started to walk away from Artemis. But of course Artemis noticed this and quickly grabbed Thalia's shoulder. "Ah, ah, ah. And just where do you think you're going?" Artemis said in a motherly tone.

Thalia stuttered out words that I'm pretty sure weren't meant to be words at all until she just let her arms and head droop. "Well we were _going_ to tell her," she started in a slow, quiet voice.

Artemis crossed her arms. "So why _didn't_ you exactly?"

Thaila bit her lip and giggled. "We thought that it would be funny."

I scrunched my eyebrows. "Um, _we?" _I looked around to the rest of the girls one more time, but now instead of looking guilty, they all, like Thalia, were stifling giggles.

"I, for one, don't find this very funny," Artemis said, still sounding like a mom.

"Yeah! Um, neither do I!" I added. "We're going back to _camp?_"

Artemis turned towards me. "Well, if these entertainment-seeking, lying little Hunters would _have told you!_" She said the last words more towards the Hunters behind her than me which made her sound more like a teenager. "They would've said that this Friday is the annual god and goddess Homecoming. Big dance, all the gods and goddesses come down to see their kids, the party lasts for days at a time sometimes. And sense it happened to land on your birthday, we're also turning it into a birthday party for you."

For one split second, I felt kind of important. No camper ever gets their own birthday party. Unless you count the party after the war ended for Percy. But that really doesn't count considering that even _he _forgot that it was his birthday.

The next second my excitement fell.

Raymond. Crap.

I was just able to miss him at the funerals, but that was luck. I tried to think of reasons that he wouldn't be there, but there was always a catch. Maybe he was on another quest? No, if the gods were coming back, Chiron would make sure everyone was there. Maybe I could avoid him? No, Chiron will for sure make me the center of attention at least once. Not something I was looking forward to for multiple reasons. Hey, maybe he died! I started hoping for the last one.

I told myself that that sounded a bit harsh, but still. I really didn't want to have to see a guy who's still probably is in that stupid Sudden-Love Spell trance and only wants to make-out with me. Or worse. I shivered at the thought.

I guess that Artemis had probably read every thought that I just had because she twisted her mouth and nodded just a bit. "Well even if you don't want to see him," Artemis said to just me. "don't you want to see your mom and siblings? You haven't seen any of them since the funerals either."

I shrugged. "I could last a few more years without them if I wanted to."

Artemis sighed. "Well I'm sorry to say that you don't really have a choice. You're gunna come to the party, turn seventeen and you're gunna like it." Again with that mom-tone.

I grunted and stomped away to help another Huntress with her tent. Like Artemis said, I didn't really have a choice. And Hunters' Rule number one:_ Always _listen to Lady Artemis.

* * *

**sorry about the long wait ! reviews would be sweet (: -kenna**


	19. Fire Breathing Hydras

The sky was the color of warm Pegasus vomit.

When I was younger, around seven years old or so, I had a bad experience when I was grooming a Pegasus named Hercules. Hercules was a strong, fast and pure white Pegasus. The only thing weak about him was his stomach. One night right before I was on duty to groom the Pegasus, some camper who was on feeding duty wasn't paying attention and gave Hercules raw salmon for dinner. I spent the rest of that night washing Pegasus barf out of my hair.

I didn't realize that I was daydreaming up into the sky until my natural grace made me trip over a root and fall right on my face. I nearly took Lilly down with me.

Lilly laughed. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I stood up quickly and kept walking through the woods. We were within another few days until we arrive at Camp Half-Blood. According to Lady Artemis, if we keep traveling at the same rate, we'll get there the day of my birthday. We'd been traveling nonstop for a day now and I was exhausted. I was so exhausted, in fact, that I only made it another ten feet before tripping over something else. This time it was a rock.

Lilly walked up beside me. "Well you don't look, act or sound fine." She helped me up and I immediately started walking again, but this time keeping my eyes on the ground instead of the vomit colored sunset. "You sure you're okay? You sure didn't like the idea of going back to camp for your birthday. We thought that you'd want to go back."

"Yeah? Well I don't," I stated. "The reason that I joined the Hunt was because I wanted to get _out _of Camp Half-Blood and never have to go back."

Lilly grinned. "Really? 'Cause I thought it was to get away from that _Raymond _guy." She made a kissy face at me (which she didn't look very comfortable doing, I may add) which I then proceeded to gag. The idea of having to see _any _boy repulsed me, but Raymond especially.

"You think this is funny?" I asked.

She wrinkled her nose as if she smelt something bad. "Hey, I'm right there with you. We've been able to avoid every boy except Apollo and those guys at the funerals for almost three years, thank Zeus." I chuckled.

The truth was I didn't actually mind having to see boys again. It was just Raymond specifically. He's the only boy still at camp who's still affected by the Sudden Love Spell. I didn't know how I knew that, but I had a feeling that someone told me. But I couldn't remember exactly.

Lilly seemed to sense my uncertainty because she grabbed my shoulders and brought us to a stop. At first she just seemed to be observing me, then her eyes grew wide. "Oh my gods, Kasey."

"What?"

"You're falling for him!" she said a little too loudly. Now, you might think that a best friend would squeal and jump around, but being a Hunter, she gasped and her eyes filled with repulse and fear.

"What! Gross! No! Why would you even say that? We're _Hunters_. It's impossible for us to fall in love, _remember_?" I stretched out the last word, but Lilly stayed in the same state of shock.

Before Lilly could say anything more, Lady Artemis stopped. "We'll camp here for the night," she said while pulling her auburn ringlets into a high ponytail. "We'll get to the camp earlier if we start moving again in a few hours, so make your sleep last." I literally collapsed. Luckily I landed on a patch of grass which was the opening to a small break in the trees. Five minutes later the clearing was filled with ten tents with three or four Hunters in each except for one for Artemis who had her own. I thought back to when I first joined the Hunt and there were only a dozen girls. Now there's twenty-eight.

The rest of the night, I caught Lilly staring at me just about every other second. Whenever I would catch her looking back, she would always look disgusted, confused and worried at the same time. I didn't ask her about why or how she could make that accusation-because it was _so_ not true—because we were around the other Hunters the whole night. We were lucky enough when Lilly nearly shouted out the accusation the first time that nobody heard us but I didn't want to take the chance again.

After sundown, Lilly, another Hunter who shares our tent, Ademia, and I crawled into our tent and made some hot chocolate before we went to bed. Ademia joined the Hunt about a year after I did. She was only eleven at the time, but the moment she was brought into camps she wanted to join up. All I know about her is that her dad abused her, which is why when she heard that she could kick males out of her life forever and be rewarded with immortality, she immediately agreed. Her big brown eyes and pale blonde hair gives her the look of innocence, but out in the field she could probably kill monsters just by looking at them. I'm pretty sure she was born to join the Hunt. Seriously. Even her name, which means "Without husband".

After about five minutes of silence I couldn't take the tension anymore. While Lilly and Ademia were sharpening their arrows, I secretly poured some hot chocolate on my jacket. "Oops. I'll go…err…clean up outside." I quickly fled leaving my tent mates confused.

Goose bumps crawled up my arms and legs but it wasn't from the chilly night time wind. In less than a week, maybe even less than _forty-eight _hours from now, I'm going to be at camp. Back within the boundaries that I never stepped foot out of for twelve years. Back to the place that four all-powerful gods fought over me. Back to the place where my true _mother_ revealed herself too me and told me that I had a love spell that makes guys want to stare at me more than Playboys but they actually don't but they don't know that. But especially back to the place that a guy that I didn't say good-bye to will be waiting and probably wanting to kiss me just like Lee—or who knows what else now that we're older. I shuttered.

Okay, so maybe it won't be that bad. I mean, it's only for the weekend, right? And once we get there, we play the traditional game of Hunters vs. Campers capture the flag. Plus I'll finally be able to stay in a cabin that I know I'll fit in. I heard that the camp redid all the cabins since the last time I was there for the funerals.

My positive thoughts ended when I heard a high-pitched scream.

* * *

I felt like I was flying just above ground. Of course, that was because I was running so fast.

You know when you're watching a horror movie and you know what's going to happen so when the main character is being stupid and walking towards a creepy noise you're yelling, "Oh my gods! What's your problem! RUN!" But of course, to keep up the ratings of the movie, that person keeps walking, something pops out, they scream, you scream, and soon enough, someone dies.

Well I was hoping that wouldn't be the outcome of this little adventure, because I was running right towards the scream.

Somewhere behind me, I slipped off my jacket and grabbed my bow and arrow out of nowhere, which has always been my favorite trick. I heard multiple footsteps somewhere behind me so I guessed that the other Hunters also heard and we're following me.

You know how also in horror movies, everything (usually) turns out okay? Well I was hoping for that as well just as Hydra head nearly bit my leg off from the side. I was so startled that I stumbled which caused me to fall face first into the dirt and bang up my shoulder against a tree root.

"Kasey!" someone called from behind me. I looked up just in time to roll away from scorching hot flames that came out of one of the beast's mouth right at me. My clothes were just dirty but the ends of my hair were singed which left an awful smell right by my nose.

When I pushed myself up, I hesitated about using my shoulder to load my bow. The higher I tried to move it, the more noticeable the pain would get—and it was already pretty bad.

One of the Hydra head spotted me again and a shot of fired blasted out of its throat which would've made me look just like the marshmallow that Noelle dropped in the fire last night if I hadn't of hid behind a tree. I could feel the intensity of the flames just above my head which got rid of my goose bumps a lot faster than I was hoping for.

Once the flames went down again, I pivoted around the side of the tree and shot two arrows squre into the eyes of two of the Hydra's heads which made my shoulder burn. I quickly got the chance to count how many heads this particular Hydra had. Thirteen in all. The other hunters were scattered around the Hydra and also shooting arrows and hitting direct targets. But even though we greatly out-numbered the amount of heads, the Hydra had us beat with size and the ability to breathe fire. When you're a giant beast who came up from hell and can cough up fire, you don't lose easily.

Most of the tree tops around me were on fire which made the smoke thick and it hard to see. But luckily I had enhanced hearing. Somewhere to my right, the same scream from when I first came out here sounded again. I actually kind of felt bad because I had totally forgotten about whoever this person was.

I slowly sneaked a peek back at the Hydra. Every head that didn't already have arrows in it eyes was distracted by a few other Hunters. So I took my chance and sprinted deeper in the woods towards where I heard the scream.

Hiding behind a rotted, fallen over tree was a girl. I couldn't see her face because her head was hunched over her left leg along with the rest of her body. Her hair was blonde and curly and her skin was slightly tanned, even after a bitter-cold winter.

Without even seeing her face I knew that this girl was Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena.

I hurried over to her careful not to make too much noise in case the Hydra could hear me even this far away. Her hands and arms were badly scratched, the edges of her clothes were singed, and her left leg was bent in an unusual way. She looked thinner than I remember her too, and older—probably around twenty. She was also grimacing and I could tell she was trying not to cry.

I knelt down next to her. "Annabeth?" I asked.

She looked up with a curious look in her stunning grey eyes that were also rimmed with tears, just on the verge of spilling out. "Kasey Gray?" I nodded.

Just like that, Annabeth's eyes closed and she fell over. I quickly checked to make sure she was still breathing when I realized that not only was her left leg broken, but it was also bleeding badly from a huge gash that started at her upper thigh and went down to her knee. The loss of blood must have knocked her out. Sitting next to her was what I guessed was her coat, so I picked that up and wrapped it around her wound as tight as I could with a hurt shoulder. In the distance, I heard the Hydra roar and a blast of flames shot above the trees and into the sky. Just a few seconds later, I heard the pitter-patter of feet racing towards me, this time faster.

The rest of the Hunters came running up to me with Artemis in front. A few had singed clothes and hair but nothing too bad. Though I did notice that two of them were gone, so I guess that either one got hurt and the other was with them or they both got hurt and the other Hunters felt like being jerks and just left them there.

Artemis kneeled down next to me and made quick work of the situation. She grabbed some Nectar that we all kept in our quivers, tilted Annabeth's head back and poured a little into her mouth. The rest of the Hunters gathered around and started working on Annabeth as best as they could. Lady Artemis took off her own Pea coat and slung it around my shoulders, only to have her silver parka appear on her.

Lilly looked like she got it the worst. Her hair was at least four inches shorter with the ends still black, her Pea coat was completely black with soot, I didn't see any of her arrows, and her bow was cracked. I'd never seen look so exhausted before, but her eyes still gleamed with excitement. She came over to me with a cloth sling in her hands and wrapped my arm in a way that supported my hurt shoulder.

I looked back and saw Thalia with her arm around Annabeth. A single tear slipped down her cheek, but I couldn't tell if it was because she was happy or depressed.

"Hunters," Lady Artemis announced standing up. "If you don't know who this is, well first, you're crazy." That earned a few giggled from the group. "Second, it's Annabeth Chase. When I was captured, I took the weight of the sky off of her shoulders. We never leave a maiden behind. So I know that you're all exhausted because you were planning to sleep tonight after a twenty-four hours of traveling, but we have to get her back to the Camp. I guess we'll be arriving a few days early."

All I could think of was _"Crap." _

**Next chapter, back at camp (: review ? -kenna**


	20. The Isolated Spot

I didn't really know how to feel the moment that I saw camp again after all these years. So instead I marched right into Cabin 8, crawled into the first bunk I saw, and went to bed. It was hard to stay asleep since it was only four in the afternoon, but it was easy to _want_ to stay asleep. Plus I was exhausted from the countless days of non-stop travel.

I remember waking up for about the seventh time and sitting up. It was dark out except for the nearly full moon that shown right into our cabin, exactly as it should be. The other Hunters we're surrounding me in various bunks, but because the last time we stayed in here there wasn't this many, many of the Hunter's were also scattered in sleeping bags on the floor. I couldn't see Lady Artemis anywhere in the cabin with us so I assumed she was either up on Olympus, talking with Chiron or being annoyed by Apollo somewhere.

Slowly and quietly, I snuck out of my bunk and walked down to the beach. It was strangely warm out—hot even. The cool sand felt good beneath my feet and the water was perfectly calm. I never knew how much I would miss the beach when I became a Hunter. But I don't regret doing it. I don't think I ever will. I _hope _I never will.

Even with my ADHD, I was able to sit in the same spot for at least an hour just watching the water and drawing random pictures in the sand with my finger. Everything stayed the same until I heard someone coming down the path behind me. Immediately I thought of Raymond. Was it him? Why was he coming down here? Did he know I was down here? Was he watching me? And for how long? I was about to just get up and take the path through the woods back to the cabins to avoid him when I noticed that it wasn't him. In fact, it wasn't even a _him _at all. I was a girl-a tall girl with curly blond hair and perfectly tanned skin, even after a bitter-cold winter.

"Annabeth Chase?" I asked as she broke through the trees.

At first she seemed a bit startled, but quickly calmed down. "Kasey, right? Sorry, I didn't know anyone else was down here."

"Couldn't sleep," I explained with a shrug.

"Same here," she said. It looked like she was about to say more, but changed her mind and took a seat near me instead, careful not to sit on my doodle of a bow and arrow. "I guess I should thank you for saving my life. So thanks."

I shrugged. "Maybe we should be thanking that Hydra. If you had never screamed, we would've never known you were there."

She nodded then turned her attention to the water. Her eyes seemed a million miles away. "Something on your mind?" I asked carefully.

"It's nothing," she muttered. "So are you excited for your party today?"

I could tell she didn't want to talk about whatever it was because of how fast she changed the topic, so I let it go. "To be honest, no. Not at all."

She laughed. "Not the party type?" I shook my head fiercely. "Yeah, me neither. But I'm anxious to see my mother again."

I had been trying to block out the thought that I'd be seeing _my_ mom again tonight as well. Even though it had been years since she's claimed me, I was still mad at her for abandoning me. Luckily I wasn't alone. Most of the Hunters weren't looking forward to seeing our godly parent again. Artemis tried to get us to think differently but since she had never actually been put on either side of the problem, she wasn't very convincing.

Annabeth and I talked for a little while longer. I didn't bring up anything about her being in the woods and she didn't talk to be about being back at camp. We both had a silent agreement that those topics were off limits. It seemed fair.

I was in the middle of a story about being in the Hunters when I heard someone else coming down the path. I stopped mid-sentence and peered about Annabeth to the trail coming from the cabins. She looked at me strange then followed my eyes towards the path. From what I could tell, it was a boy. He was a little taller than average, had light brown hair and was still in his pajamas. As he got closerand closer, I realized that he had bright blue eyes. Eyes that looked full of curiosity and a little bit of guilt.

"Oh my gods," I gasped. I quickly stumbled to my feet.

Annabeth turned my way. "What is it?" she asked quickly.

"I-I have to go. Bye." And with that, I sprinted down the path through the woods.

Behind me I could hear them talking. "Who was that?" said the very familiar voice that made my stomach do summersaults. His voice was

"Err…New girl. She had a lot on her mind."

Ain't that the truth…

* * *

Streamers were hung all around the arena, Mess Hall, and the amphitheatre where most of the party would be held. Mess Hall had a "Happy Birthday Kasey!" banner hung up along with a couple dozen cakes. Neither of them looked like they got a lot of effort put into it except for one of the cakes which I could tell was made by Lilly from the hand-writing and one of our inside jokes written on it.

The gods had already arrived and we're all visiting their kids in the cabins. I wanted to avoid Raymond and, more importantly, Aphrodite, so here I am, sitting with my feet in the lake.

Chiron made the announcement earlier that the party would start at sundown, so once Apollo and his kids we're finished setting everything up, Apollo would set the sun and the torture would begin. I had to admit, it was kind of exciting having the annual god and goddess homecoming also be my birthday party—it was also nice to _have_ a birthday party for once—but at the same time, like I told Annabeth, parties aren't my thing. I hate the crowds, the noise, and someone always ending up puking from having too much sugar.

I was watching and breathing heavily as the sun dipped lower and lower into the sky when awkward sounding footsteps came up behind me. I turned around and found out why it sounded so weird. Aphrodite was wearing heals in the woods.

Without meeting her eyes, I turned my attention back to the sun. I know how risky it is to pay no respect to a god, but I've done a lot of risky things over the years. Being disrespectful to gods seemed to be my specialty.

"Hello, Kasey," Aphrodite's wind-chime voice said behind me. I didn't say a peep. She came up to my side, reached down and cradled my face with her hands. "You haven't changed a bit, literally." She laughed at her own joke while I tried to ignore her.

How dare she try to befriend me after abandoning me like this! I hadn't felt this angry since she first told me I was her daughter. It took all I had not to scream at her just like I did five years ago.

Once she realized I wasn't going to talk she sighed. "Well if you're not going to talk, at least listen."

I turned my head an inch towards her to gesture that I was listening, but I kept my eyes off of her. "First off, Happy Seventeenth Birthday. You should know that you're brothers and sisters we're whining to me earlier about how you got a birthday party and they didn't," she said and then laughed to herself. I couldn't help cracking a small smile for a second either. "Second, I realize that you still have harsh feelings for me about not claiming you until you we're twelve, but I hope we can forget about that for the homecoming."

It was silent for a few seconds while she awaited my response. I didn't know if I was going to be able to look at her and just smile for three days, nor did I want to let my grudge on her go. But I knew I wasn't going to have a very good time if I didn't. Sense I didn't really know what to say, I just sighed meaning _I'll think about it._ She seemed to pick that up—or she just read my mind—because she went on.

"Lastly, this probably won't help with the whole Forgive and Forget thing, but you _are_ still my daughter, so I think that for one night, you should act like it." My eyes widened at what she was saying and I looked her dead in the eyes in horror. Her faced was a mix of amused, excited and, in one word, giddy.

She bent down, grabbed me by my arm, and the next thing I knew, I was in my old cabin, sitting in my old make-up chair that I never used (which was covered in dust I might add. Though it made me feel a little better knowing that nobody had sat in it since me. It was a big pick-me-up since the sloppy "Happy Birthday" sign), surrounded by my siblings. The cabin was a lot bigger than what I remembered, and there were at least ten more kids. Aphrodite quickly introduced me to the new cabin leader, Piper. She seemed pretty cool, mostly because she mouth "Sorry about this" as everyone else made me over.

Throughout the whole thing, I started having major déjà vu but I couldn't remember from what. I didn't know if it was from being back in cabin ten or the stench of perfume or something else, but I tried not to think about it.

With all of my siblings working on me, I was done in half an hour with a manicure, pedicure, an exquisite up do, a face full of makeup and a dELiA's purple strapless dress. Being able to pinpoint who the designer is for that piece of clothing is unfortunately something that comes with being the daughter of Aphrodite, though sometimes it's actually kind of cool. One of my siblings whom I've never seen before shoved a pair of golden high heeled shoes on me which we're half a size too small.

All at once, everyone stepped back except for my mother who stepped forward with tears in her eyes. I turned around, looked in the mirror, and gasped. But I inhaled too much perfume and I started having a mini coughing fit. I looked like a super-model, but everything looked natural. The heaviest thing about my make up was the foundation, but it didn't look like it was even there. In fact, you could still see my freckles. My hair was put up to look like I was in a wedding, but it had a little bit of jazz to make it perfect for a party. Luckily it was another hot night because my dress made me show more skin than a SPA treatment.

After I could breathe again, I cracked a smile. "Umm…Wow."

My siblings started squealing and I started laughing. It felt really good to laugh for the first time in a few days. I've barely even smiled since I found out that we were coming back to camp. I gave Piper, who I had been talking to the whole time, a short hug and thanked her for getting me through it.

Aphrodite smiled her famous million-dollar smile and clapped her hands. "Perfect! Now come on, you're already late for your own party!"

Artemis wasn't kidding when she said the homecoming could last for days.

Now it was twenty-four hours later, Saturday night, and the party was just as crazy and exciting as it was when I first strutted onto the dance floor. I was careful not to look directly into the eyes of any boys, but all of the girls' eyes were filled with a hint on envy. I have to admit, being self-centered for those few moments was actually kind of fun.

Most of the time, I just talked with Piper and the Hunters, ate some cake which tasted better than it looked, and sang karaoke. Somehow I managed to avoid Raymond and I didn't totally humiliate myself in any way. Everything was going perfect and I was having more fun than the time that Thalia showed up back at our camp dragging a boy behind her. She said that he found her hunting a deer in the woods and he starting hitting on her. Let's just say he looked a bit more like a girl than a teenage guy when we finally let him go.

But of course, I spoke too soon.

It was just after midnight and the full moon illuminated the dance floor. Lilly and I had just woken up from a nap in cabin eight and I had changed into the same dress that I wore the day before, only this time it was teal instead of purple.

Just as we reached the dance floor, my sister, Emma, pulled me aside. I shot Lilly an apologetic glace as Emma dragged me towards the beach. Well, _dragged_ is a bad description. _Stumbled _is more like it. "Hey," she slurred pulling me close. Her breath smelled like liquor. "You've gotta come check this out." I already had a bad feeling about where she was taking me.

When we got to the beach, we both slipped off our heels and left them where a pile had already been started. I half had to carry her because she was so tipsy.

At the far end of the beach there was a huge pile of rocks that piled up and blocked off the rest of the beach. It made a nice boundary for the swimming area. But if you climbed over it, there was a small part of the beach that was completely isolated. You could do anything there and get away with it. Emma started climbing and gesturing me to follow, which I did.

It wasn't hard to tell that Emma was totally wasted. She's usually the girliest girl in cabin ten, but there was a point where she nearly fell between two rocks but I was able to catch her in time and she only suffered a minor scrape. If she had any idea what she was doing, she would be having a panic attack knowing that her perfect skin was ruined and that it might not stop bleeding or worse, it would leave a scar. But tonight, she just kept climbing like nothing happened.

I saw a few familiar faces on the other side of the rock hill. The Stoll's were teaching a group of newer campers how to play beer pong, Katie Gardner was just as wasted as Emma and was practically on top of Travis, a couple was making out while up to their thighs in water, and even Annabeth was downing shots over by two kegs. One minute she would be laughing hysterically about probably nothing and the next she was in tears. Some other campers that I didn't recognize we're scattered around doing one of three things: drinking, making out, or _passing_ out.

Emma slid down the other side of the rocks which totally ruined her dress. When she got to the bottom, she cuffed her hands around her mouth and screamed, "Now it's your turn!" even though I was only about seven feet away from her. I uneasily climbed down into the isolated spot.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KASEY!" someone slur-shouted. More "Happy Birthday's" came from various people and I just nodded my head and said thanks, even though my birthday was yesterday.

"Happy Birthday, Kasey!" Annabeth screamed long after everyone else. She stumbled over to me and gave me an overly tight hug. I tried not to gag as the over-whelming smell of beer engulfed my nose. "Glad you could come!" She hiccupped.

"Annabeth…what the hell?" I stated. "What is going on? Why are you drinking?"

She pulled back and looked at me, almost confused. Her eyes were bloodshot. "Oh, relax _moooom_," she slurred. "I just came here to have some fun."

"I doubt that," I said. "You're upset about something. If you weren't, you wouldn't be drunk because you would have had some sort of wisdom being the daughter of _ATHENA_!"

She started playing with my hair. "I'm not upset about anything! In fact, I feel great! Here, try it!"

Annabeth turned about and grabbed me a plastic cup full of beer. "No, I don't want any," I said firmly.

"Want some vodka instead?"

"No! Now come on, I'm taking you back to your cabin. You too, Emma!" I shouted towards her, but she already had someone on top of her trying to get her dress off. I shook my head in disgust. "Come on, Annabeth."

"No!" she whined. Oh boy. She was back to the crying stage. "I like feeling good again!" With that, she burst into tears. I had a feeling that this is why we found her in the woods the other day, so I didn't ask about what she meant. "Don't _you_ want to feel good again?" she asked in between sobs.

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? I've been happier in these past few hours than I have been in probably my whole life."

She had this look on her face like she didn't believe me. "But what about that boy, Raymond?"

"What about him?" I asked. "We met five years ago, I helped him find his ornament, him and Lee became obsessed with me because of that stupid Sudden-Love Spell thing that my mother, who didn't claim me until I was twelve even when she _knew_ I was her daughter, didn't tell me about until she _did_ decide to claim me _after_ I was put to the task to see which god would claim me which usually doesn't happen, and actually I don't think has _ever_ happened, and now I have to see the gods who loved m and wanted to claim me but didn't get to, my _actual _god parent who I feel like just sees me as another daughter to dress up and, above all, the boy who loves me because of some spell!" by this point I probably sounded drunker than most of the people here, but I kept going. "And you wanna know what the scary part of this is which is also kind of sad? I think I might like him! AND I'M AN EFFING HUNTER! He was just so nice to me, which is more than anyone else besides Aubrey and Chiron, has done for me all my life! But I _can't _like him! Artemis told me that when you're a Hunter, you won't even have the _urge_ to like boys. I don't get it! Oh, and then you know Aubrey who I just mentioned? Yeah, I haven't seen her in _years_! I thought I was her friend! I thought that maybe she would want to come visit me or catch up with me or invite me to stay with her and her dad for the holidays like I was told friends do! But I guess not!"

By this point, tears were streaming down my cheeks and my throat hurt from screaming. "So why the hell would I need to feel better about anything?" I whispered.

Annabeth sat me down and threw her arms around me. I don't know how long I was crying, but it was long enough that Annabeth had finished another four beers. As she shakily stood up to get a fifth one, I reached out my hand. She smiled then lifted me up while handing me a cup. I swished it around a bit in the cup and some drops spilled onto my hand. Even with just licking that up, I gagged.

I was about to change my mind about the beer when another three kids came over the rocks, one of them being Raymond. He slid down the side and walked straight up to me, looking me dead in the eyes. Or maybe he was trying to get to the kegs, but I couldn't tell which.

He smiled at me. "Hey, Kasey. Long time, no see," he said. I glanced up at him and grinned.

Then I took a nice, long gulp.

* * *

**sorry about not updating ! school year was crazyy . but only 3 weeks left of that (: **

**this was my favorite chapter so far ! you guys have no idea how excited i was to gt to this point (: only a few chapters left !**

**review ? merci (: **

**-kenna(:**


	21. Who Needs Dresses Anyway?

Four beers and three tequila shots later, here I am, wandering the woods.

Well, I guess you couldn't really call it wandering because everyone else was here too. And when I say everyone, I mean _everyone. _Once the word got out that the isolated spot on the beach was loaded with alcohol, campers starting coming by the dozens. Some we're probably even twelve or thirteen. But not only were the campers coming, but all the gods too. But the gods weren't exactly coming to get drunk (except for Dionysus)—they we're coming to kick some ass.

The few campers who had gotten there first—which included me, Emma, Annabeth, the Stoll's, and those few other ones—, well, we booked it out of there. As far as I know, none of us got caught by our parents, but we didn't know where to go because we couldn't think straight. So we basically just ran in all different directions. The other campers who had gotten there after us had the same idea and we're also wandering the woods, trying to avoid their parent—but unfortunately, some weren't lucky enough to get away.

I can't even imagine what Artemis would do to me.

I stumbled around some trees with another cup of beer in my hand that I was nervously taking sips out of. It used to burn my throat, but now my tongue was so numb with the taste of alcohol that it didn't bother me anymore. Tears were dried to my face and I didn't even want to imagine what my dress and hair looked like.

Without knowing it, I had stumbled closer to the cabins. From what I could see through my blurred vision, the dance floor was totally abandoned. Everyone was either drunk in the woods or hiding in their cabins.

My headache tripled for a split second, but it was enough that I had to sit down. As I was rubbing my temples while trying to hold back barf, I heard someone come up to me.

"_Heeeeeeyyyyyy!" _The person slur-shouted.

I looked up to find Emma again; even tipsier than when I had seen her before. Even looking at her now with the world spinning, she still looked like a true daughter of Aphrodite. She dyed her hair lately, so instead of her being the pale blonde that I remember her as, her hair was a deep red that was both glamorous and exciting. She was still in her torn-up, light blue dress, but somehow she could still pull it off. She also had another beer in her hand, but every time she would try to take a step closer to me, she would stumble on a root and spill a little. By the time she got to me, it was basically empty.

"What are you doing over here all _aloooooooone_?" she asked. "The party's over there." She pointed behind her but then changed her mind and pointed in another direction which also wasn't right. Eventually she gave up and shrugged.

"Headache," I explained. But my tongue was so heavy from the liquid that it sounded more like "_Thu-ak". _I giggled at my voice which quickly escalated into a laugh. Emma quickly joined in even though I don't think she knew what we were laughing at.

It felt good to laugh again even though is a semi-fake laugh that came with dizziness, but since Annabeth basically made me shove my own reality in my face, I've been taking every moment of happiness I could get—even if it wasn't real.

But my laughing soon turned back into sobbing. I'm sure I had been off and on, just like Annabeth had been, all night, but I couldn't remember.

I don't know how long I was sitting there—I can't really keep track or _anything_ at the moment—, but by the time I could concentrate again, the sun was peeking out over the horizon and Emma was gone. Fog was starting to cover the ground and the temperature must have dropped fifteen degrees since I put on this dress. But the cold helped clear my head just enough that I could stand back up. I was shaky and probably would've fallen back over if I had still been wearing my high heels. Thank the gods I never put those nightmares back on.

Walking away from the cabins and deeper back into the woods, I didn't see any of the gods. There were still dozens of drunken campers wandering around doing various things, like one was jumping behind tree to tree pretending he was a cross between Indiana Jones and someone from Mission Impossible.

I found Emma talking to some Apollo boy behind a tree near the beach. My vision was still blurry, but from what I could make out, the isolated spot was completely destroyed. All of the boulders that had blocked it off we're turned to rubble and fell into it. Looks like the gods we're just a touch mad.

"Hey, it's the birthday girl," someone said behind me. I turned around just a bit too quickly and I ending up tripping on a root. Some strong hands helped me up. And the strong hands were connected to some veryripped arms. And those veryripped arms we're attached to an _extremely_ hot torso.

He started laughing which caused me to finally look at his face. I had no idea who he was but he was pretty hot: short, dark hair, smooth skin and dark brown eyes that we're also, at the moment, bloodshot. "I'm Tyler," he whispered to me.

I gulped, but I don't know why if it was because I saw this situation as a good thing or a bad thing. "I'm Kasey," I slurred, my tongue still heavy from the beer.

He chuckled. "I know who _you _are."

"You do?" I asked.

"Of _course_ I do," he whispered, leaning closer. "You're that hot new _Aphrodite_ girl."

"Wait," I said quietly, almost to myself. "If I've never seen you before, how come you knew I'm-" I stopped myself. _Oh shit_. I thought. _The Sudden-Love spell._

"Say, uhh…" he mumbled. "It's crowded here. Why don't we go to the beach where we can talk?"

"Aren't the gods there?" I asked, dumbly.

He shrugged. "Or we could stay here." He leaned me up against the tree behind me and put both arms on either side of me, trapping me.

I don't know what happened, or how, but the next thing I know, his tongues down my throat. He tasted like old beer and his breath smelt even worse. My arms we're still limply by my sides and I couldn't find the strength to lift them up and push him off of me. His hands found my waist, and my neck, and my thighs and just about every other part of me.

I tried to tell him to stop, repeatedly, but my tongue was still too heavy to talk clearly and my head was going in and out of what was even going on so I couldn't stay concentrated for very long.

His hands made circles on my stomach then slipped their way to my back. I could tell he had a lot of practice at this, because in one fluid motion, _bam!_ My dress is around my ankles and all I had on were panties and a strapless bra. He smashed his body up against mine enough so that I couldn't move he could. Easily.

I kept trying to tell him to stop but his mouth would just muffle mine and my head would start getting too dizzy to think again.

His hands and arms crawled up and down me like animals. And he was getting _deep,_ like he thought that it was totally normal to meet a girl for the first time and feel her up.

His mouth moved from mine to my neck and I finally got a breath. "Stop," I said as loud as I could, which, unfortunately, was only a whisper.

"Aww," he mumbled when he took a breath. "You don't wanna stop, do ya baby?" His eyes met mine and locked there. Like I couldn't move even if I wanted to. Which I _did,_ I might add.

"Wow," he gasped. "You're eyes. They…glitter."

My eyes widened with fear and I had a quick flash-back to the first time someone ever said that to me—it was the last time I ever saw Lee.

He smiled and smashed his lips back on mine. His hands slowly went up my back until they hit my bra clasps. I gasped.

He snickered. "You like that?" he slurred.

_No_! I wanted to shout, but I couldn't.

Just as he started fiddling with the clasps, he was suddenly gone. I couldn't see where because I shut my eyes tighter than I ever thought was possible. Someone grabbed my dress and helped me quickly slip it back on with my eyes still shut. Then the person grabbed my arm and we stumbled out of the woods towards the beach.

I quickly glanced back and through my blurry vision, I think I saw Tyler on my ground holding his nose. I couldn't be sure though because I was just about dragged off the little ledge between the forest and the beach and my feet hit sand. I wasn't ready for that elevation change though, and I was still dizzy, so I tripped and face-planted into the sand.

I guess I took the other person down with me because I heard another _thump_.

After I spit out all the sand that had collected in my mouth, I looked up.

Actually, it wasn't a person. It was _people._ Two, to be exact.

There, lying in the sand in front of me, were Raymond and Aubrey.

* * *

**review review ! & check out my new story _The Runaway _. It seems to be a hit ! -kenna(:**


	22. Hangover

So what would you do in this situation: you're drunk and you nearly just got raped, then you find yourself lying in the sand with a boy who claims he's in love with you and your long-lost best friend who you haven't talked to in almost a decade?

Well I'll tell you what _I_ did—I laughed.

I mean, at first I just sat there with my mouth hanging open, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. But when I realized that I wasn't about to make sense of anything, I just started laughing. Somehow I found it humorous that my life could be this messed up and complicated.

I just sat there, giggling like an idiot for probably two minutes at least. I don't know what Raymond and Aubrey were doing because one, I was trying not to look at them, and two, my vision was still a little blurry from all the beer.

Eventually though, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw Aubrey, sitting there in a little country dress and her light brown hair pulled back in ringlets. Her eyes were a lot lighter in the moonlight than what I remember her as an eight-year-old. "Kasey," she said calmly. "It's just me. Just, calm down."

But I didn't. Instead I threw myself into her arms and, once again, broke down. I didn't know if it was from relief or sadness from this parties events or anything else, but this was the first time tonight that it felt good to cry. My vision was starting to go back to normal and my thoughts were starting to clear up—the down side was I started feeling a headache coming on. And it was coming on fast.

* * *

My dream went like this.

_I was standing at the edge of something. I didn't know where I was or what was below me. You know how in normal dreams sometimes you can get really frustrated because you can't control where you look? Like, somehow, your head is just locked into one place even though you really want to look around? Well that's the position I was in. _

_From what I could see, everything was bright and I was looking over the clouds, but they all we're moving unnaturally fast. Also, a dim rainbow was stretched out in the distance. _

_Despite the clouds, everything was actually pretty relaxing. There was a soft breeze blowing my hair and I couldn't look down anyways to see how far the drop would be—I'm extremely afraid of heights. _

_Then everything started to shift. The bright sky suddenly turned dark. The wind picked up so fast that I was nearly knocked off my feet. A silver full moon rose right in front of me, and in front of that, Lady Artemis was standing on a storm cloud._

_And she looked pissed. _

"_Why would you do this, Kasey?" she shouted, her voice echoing off of something behind me. "You turned against me!"_

_My eyes started to hurt from looking at the moon. It might be the moon, but it shined like the sun. And not in a good way. "What did I do?" I asked, my voice catching in my throat. _

"_You broke your oath, Kasey, with that…_boy!_"_

_I started to tear up. "But that wasn't my fault! I was just upset and confused and it was my birthday and he came up to me even though I didn't even know who he was but he ju—" Artemis held up her hand to silence me. _

"_Enough!" she ordered. "Excuses don't cut it with me. You _know_ that."_

"_But I—" _

"_I have no choice," Artemis cut me off and the wind picked up even harder, this time actually knocking me to the ground. "I must excuse you from your duties as a Hunter."_

_And with that, she swept her arm across the sky and the scene turned to black._

* * *

"_NO!"_ I screamed while I sat bold upright in bed, which was the worst thing I could possible do because it made me feel like a mallet had just hit me square on the head, so I fell back down on my pillow. Around me, I heard a few campers complain about my scream and I did my best to mumble apologies to them.

I was back in the infirmary surrounded by about fifty or sixty other campers who we're either still passed out, throwing up in buckets, or drinking dissolved Alka Seltzer from cups. But there were only a couple medics working. My guess was that most of the Apollo kids we're either too young or lying on their own infirmary bed so they couldn't help out. I saw other campers, though, rushing around from bed to bed trying to help—campers who most likely didn't know anything about cures and medicine.

But trying to focus on all of the details made my head hurt more, then remembering how bad my head hurt in the first place made it hurt even _more. _Imagine six anvils and a cement truck all falling on the top of your head at the exact same time, and you'd probably feel pretty close to how I felt at the moment. Not only that, but my whole body was stiff, my stomach felt horrible, and I had a disgusting taste in my mouth. I couldn't even _imagine _how bad I must've looked.

"Well," Aubrey said as she came to the side of my bed, Raymond in tail. "I have good news and bad news."

I held up my hand. "Can you not talk so loud?" I whispered. My voice sounded like the singers on an old record—dry and scratchy.

"Sorry," she whisper-apologized.

"Better," I said, rubbing my temples.

Raymond reached to my side table and grabbed a bag of ice. "Here," he whispered. "For your head."

I thanked him, careful not to meet his eyes, and placed the ice on my head. "So, what's the news?" I asked, still whispering.

"The good news is," Aubrey started. "anonymously throughout the infirmary's medics today, you we're voted into the top three worst hangovers."

I glared at her. "How is that good news?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I just felt like if I told you that I had bad news and horrible news, it might not be a great way to welcome you back from unconsciousness. Plus, this is great news compared to the second piece of news."

"Welcome me back?" I whispered more to myself than anything. "How long was I out?"

"About twelve hours," she replied. "Once the gods were able to round up their kids and/or find them knocked out, they ended the party. Hey!"

"Shhhh!" I reminded her, holding the ice tighter against my head. "_What?"_

"_That _can be the good news: the party's over." She grinned and apologized for her outburst.

"Then what's the horrible news?" I asked.

Raymond cleared his throat. I concentrated on his lips so I could still tell what he was saying. "Well, you tell us. You were the one who woke up screaming.

The dream all came flooding back to me and I choked on my breath. At first I tried telling myself, _"It's just a dream, right? Just a dream." _But I knew better. Then I started thinking of ways that I could get myself put back in, but Artemis probably doesn't give second chances to Hunters. Then I thought, _"What about _Lilly? _What was she going to think?" _

About a million other things also raced through my mind about the topic, so I couldn't exactly say just one piece of horrible news. But I went with the basic. "Artemis kicked me out of the Hunters," I mumbled sadly.

Raymond and Aubrey we're both quiet. Raymond came around and sat on the other side of my bed while Aubrey scooted in closer and wrapped her arms around me. I didn't feel like crying, though I doubted I could've even if I wanted to, I didn't feel like screaming, which wouldn't feel very good on my head, and I definitely didn't feel like laughing. I didn't even know how to feel about the situation.

The basic idea, I'm not a Hunter anymore. I just lost all my friends, my family and basically all my happiness in life, all because I got drunk from being unhappy and was nearly raped by a jerk. Now, you may be thinking, "_That's a little dramatic," _but it's the truth—the sad, depressing, dramatic, traumatizing, embarrassing, humiliating, scary, unfortunate truth.

Aubrey unwrapped her arms from around me. "Was it because of that idiot who was sucking your face, and nearly everything else, last night?"

I nodded. Aubrey growled deep in her throat and turned to look at a camper next to me. I couldn't see whoever it was because my bedside table was too tall, but she was glaring. Hard. "I'm going to kick his ass!" she whispered.

I had a pretty good guess on who was in the bed next to me. Aubrey actually started to stand up to lunge but Raymond grabbed her wrist. "Aubrey," he said. "I think he's already hurting enough." I slowly propped myself on my elbow to see over the table, and he's right. Tyler looked worse than anyone else here. He was pale white, he had a cast on his nose and he had dried vomit all over his face and clothes.

"Gods, what happened to him?" I asked.

"No offence, babe," Aubrey said to me a little too loudly. "But you don't really look much better." I stuck my tongue out at her. She held up her hands in defense. "Hey, don't blame me. I wasn't the one off getting drunk."

"_Aubrey," _Raymond whispered fiercely. "Lay off." She shrugged and looked back over at Tyler. "Kasey, Chiron said we're allowed to take you back to you cabin if you want. But I guess we're going to have to take you to Cabin 10…"

I nodded, trying not to get too upset with that thought. I did my best to stand up without shaking my head more and Raymond and Aubrey helped. Just as I was about to step outside, I thought of something. "Hang on one second," I said to them.

They both had confused faces as I trotted back inside. I marched right up to the side of Tyler's bed where he was still passed out. And with one swift movement, I punched him. Right in the nose. Of course, he didn't seem to notice, but I saw that his nose bent into an even more unusual shape, so I was satisfied. Then I shakily made my way back to where Aubrey had her arms crossed, smirking, and Raymond had his eyebrows turned up.

"You know," he said. "I already broke his nose. I don't think that did much."

I thanked him in my head for knocking him out last night, but I didn't say it. Instead, I said, "I know. But I just want to make sure he wakes up to much more than a headache and some dried vomit."

* * *

**P.S. If you haven't yet, check out my new book _The Runaway_ - It looks like a hit (: reviews , favorites , alerts ? i hope so ! -kenna(:**


	23. Raymond Samuels

**fluff, fluff & more fluff (: enjoy!**

* * *

Saying that my siblings had a heart attack when Aubrey and Raymond brought me into Cabin Ten would be an understatement.

While Aubrey and Raymond were helping me stumble back to my cabin, I forced them to tell me about the anonymous vote thing for who got the most wasted or else I would make sure their love lives would end miserably (I have to admit, I do like having that power). Turns out Tyler got voted number one (No surprise), I was number two, and Emma and Annabeth were tied for number three. Figures.

As soon as I looked at myself in the mirror, I realized why. My hair looked like a rat's nest with sand still in it, my skin was milk-white, and I too had a little bit of dried vomit on my face and my partially ripped dress. But here was the scariest thing: I looked a hell of a lot older. I guess when Artemis took away my Hunters' status, I kept my age. I was a little bit taller, my features were a little more mature, and yes, my boobs were a lot bigger. I let out a whimper and turned towards Aubrey.

"I knew I probably looked bad," I said. "But why didn't you tell me it was You-shouldn't-go-out-in-public sort of _bad_? Or maybe a simple 'Kasey, you look like a seventeen year-old wasted drunk.'"

"Oh, stop being such an Aphrodite girl," she said. My siblings looked offended but Aubrey brushed them off. "But a shower probably wouldn't hurt."

I nodded and started heading for our oversized bathroom when one of my sisters, Riley, stepped in. "Hold up _Demeter _girl," she said. Aubrey rolled her eyes, looking bored. "Looking good is in _our_ department. And sense we have a reputation to keep up, I think we're capable of helping our sister."

Aubrey crossed her arms and looked at me while mouthing, _Shallow much?_ I shrugged.

Riley continued. "So, this means that you two," she pointed at Aubrey and Raymond. "have got to go. And Kasey, you go take a shower. A _long _one."

I tried not to be offended by what she was implying, so I just nodded again, shooting Aubrey an apologetic glance. I purposefully kept my gaze off of Raymond who was already halfway out the door. Aubrey just shrugged and told me she'd see me once I got out of this hell hole.

I took a long, hot shower which got rid of my headache. Then my siblings put me in skinny jeans and a simple white V-neck t-shirt. They brushed out my hair, straightened it, and applied just a bit of foundation and mascara. Riley was proud of me that I was starting to not fuss when they'd dress me up. But she was even more proud when I told her it was because I was getting used to it, sometimes even _liking_ it.

Chiron made me stay and relax in my cabin. I was excused from my training today. When I asked why, because everyone else who was drinking last night still had activities, he said, "Think of it as my birthday present to you." But he said it in a way that had that meaning, but sounded like, "Don't worry. You have a punishment coming your way." I gulped.

I was lying on my bed looking up at the ceiling. I was in a comfortable position and my eyes were starting to droop. Just as I was about to let sleep take me, there was a knock on my door.

"Come in," I said loudly.

The head of bed was facing away from the door, so I couldn't see who it was until he came around to the side of my bed.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi, Raymond," I murmured. "I thought you had training."

"I ditched it," he said. I rolled over so my back was facing him.

After a few seconds of an awkward silence, Raymond sighed. "You're not even going to ask why I'm here?" I shrugged. "I needed to talk to you."

"Need_ed_?" I asked.

"_Need_," he corrected. "I _need_ to talk to you."

"'Bout?"

"Why you've been avoiding me?" It came out more like a question than a statement, but I decided not to point it out to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I lied.

"Oh, bull shit, Kasey, and you know it," he said firmly. "Remember when we first met all those years ago on Christmas? What changed between then and now?"

I balled my hands into fists. "A lot has changed," I growled.

Raymond grabbed my shoulder and forced me to sit up. He put both hands on my shoulders but I didn't look at him—instead I looked at the floor.

"See?" he burst out. "Exactly this. You never look me in the eye, you barely talk to me, and even right now you look like you're ready to murder someone then cry."

"Look," I said sharply. "Like I said, _a lot_ has changed. That was five years ago, Raymond. Maybe I just don't want to be friends anymore."

"But you do. I can tell. Plus, you just saw Aubrey after, what, a decade? And you still talk to her like neither you nor her ever left! And, okay, yes, a lot has changed over the last five years. But it doesn't seem like you to ignore me because of it."

I hardened my glare at the floor. "Well then maybe you never actually knew me at all."

Raymond growled. "You know what? Actually, there's only one thing that's changed recently. And that's _you_." At first to me, that didn't sound like I should be offended—it just sounded stupid. But the way he said it made me sound like I turned into a deranged bitch, and that's when I snapped. Or _slapped_ is more accurate.

Raymond stepped back and held his cheek in shock. I just stood up and crossed over to the other side of my cabin. I heard Raymond come up behind me and grabbed my arm, but I didn't turn around.

"Kasey," he said softly. "You might want me to go, but I'm not leaving until I figure out what's wrong, because obviously something's bothering you."

I don't know why I wasn't telling him that the only reason I didn't want anything to do with him was because I knew he was only talking to me because he fake-loved me. And I wasn't about to love someone who didn't actually love me back.

My breath caught in my throat for a second. _Love? No, I didn't mean that. _I shook it off.

Raymond must've noticed in my quick change of behavior because he loosened his grip. "Seriously, Kasey, what's up?"

I growled. Everything was quiet for about a minute except for the clanging of swords and practice battle cries that we could hear from outside. Raymond kept his grip on my arm and, for some reason, I didn't yank away.

"Why are you even here?" I finally spat out.

"What?" he said, sounding confused. "I told you, I needed to see what was up with you."

"No," I said, finally yanking my arm away. "I mean _really_. You didn't just come over here to see why I haven't been talking to you like I used too after five years, did you?"

"Kasey, what the _hell_ are you talking about?" He sounded honestly and utterly confused, but I knew he'd know once I pulled it to his attention.

I stepped around him while keeping my eyes glued to the floor. "You know how some Aphrodite girls are charm speakers or can control beauty or sometimes even control a little bit of love lives?" I saw him nod in the mirror. "Well, just like everything else about me, I'm different."

He kept quiet as if edging me to continue. So I did. _Gods, I can't believe I'm saying this_, I thought. I told him everything—from the point that I saw him to where I found out about the Sudden-Love Spell to now. Everything.

After I was done, I crossed my arms. I ended up in my makeup chair sometime when I was telling the story. I actually felt a little better. Maybe now that he knew I had this stupid spell, he would leave me alone knowing that I wouldn't love him back—knowing that I _couldn't_ love him back. Maybe.

Raymond walked up behind my chair. "So you think…"he said, pausing. "that because of this spell… I have a fake crush on you…and because of it…you don't want anything to do with me…because you're afraid…of falling for me…and knowing that I don't _actually_ love you back…?"

"Basically, yeah," I said quietly.

"So then…you ran away to join the Hunters…because you knew it was the Hunters' Rules…to never be involved with a guy…?" I nodded.

I heard him stifle a laugh, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. My heard dropped. I cautiously looked at him through the mirror. My eyes weren't, as Lee and Tyler said, "glittering" so I was pretty sure I was okay. It was the first time that I had looked at Raymond in the eye (sort of) since I met him—but I wasn't exactly looking as much as glaring. "What?" I said. "Something funny about that? It's true."

He shook his head, still smirking. "No, Kasey. I just think it's funny that you haven't considered anything else."

I raised an eyebrow. "Anything else?" I repeated.

"Yeah, like any other possibility for the situation. Like maybe, I don't know, the truth." He said the last two words rather harshly, like he was mad that I hadn't considered it—which he seemed like he was.

"Well," I said softly. "Then, what's the truth?"

Raymond grabbed my hand. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

I nodded, hoping it was true. "Okay, good." He grabbed the back of my chair and slowly started to spin me around until I was looking up at him, face to face—eye to eye. He kept a hold of my hand and helped me up. This might sound lame, but I was actually really nervous. This was the first time I had been this close, much less _looked_ at a guy since Aphrodite told me about the spell. But I was also nervous because I wasn't good with guys. I mean, look at me—I'm now seventeen years old and I've never had a real boyfriend _or_ a real kiss. My first kiss was stolen _because_ of the spell.

Bottom line, I hate being an Aphrodite girl.

Raymond held both of my hands and I let him. "Maybe, just maybe," he whispered. "I'm not affected by the spell." Raymond must've seen that his response made my heart drop because he quickly explained what he meant. "I mean, Aphrodite says that she doesn't necessarily _control_ love, right?"

I shrugged and nodded shyly. "So you think maybe the spell only works on guys who aren't actually in love with me or aren't supposed to be?" The idea sounded kind of stupid to me, but it made sense.

He shrugged. "Hey, we're half-bloods. Anything is possible."

I giggle for a second, then I noticed something. "Wait," I said. "did you just say…?" I didn't even know how to answer, but he smiled, knowing what I meant. I shook my head fiercely. "No, no, no, no, no, no," I said frantically. "You can't _love_ me. I mean, we don't even really know each other."

He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic. I believe in love at first sight." I giggled at the irony. He seemed to catch on because he chuckled too. "And I know you do too," he said. "Because that's _exactly_ why you were afraid to get close to me again—because you knew you'd fall for me. Which you did."

My heart beat quickened. "No I didn't," I said. But the words felt weird on my tongue.

"Yes you did," he said matter-of-factly. "And you want to know how I can tell?"

"How?"

"You're heart beat quickened when I said that you loved me and you denied it. That means you're lying." I looked down and noticed that not only were his hands covering mine, but they were so much bigger, that the tips of his fingers could easily touch the inside of my wrist where my pulse was.

Just looking at his hands made me smile—it reminded me of the time right after I got the letter from Lilly about joining the Hunt. When I was upset so Raymond distracted me by showing how much bigger his hands were than mine even though he wasn't that much taller than me. Both of these were still true.

Raymond followed my eyes and seemed to remember the exactly same memory as well because, just like Tarzan, he curled his right hand under my left so that mine was covering his, then he spread out our fingers until we were just palm against palm. His hands we're still a lot bigger than mine.

I don't know why, but I started choking up while laughing.

Then he looked up at me. "And you want to know how we both know I'm not just under some love spell when I say I love you?" he whispered.

"How?" I asked, still choked up.

"Because you said that Lee and that bastard, Tyler, looked into your eyes and they both saw them glitter, right?" I nodded. "Well Kasey, I can honestly say that you're eyes look just as the always do—which is beautiful."

I blushed and looked away grinning. "And you know what else?" he said bringing my attention back to him. "I've actually always liked your brown eye better. I've been looking at blue eyes my whole life and I like looking at something a little different." I blushed even deeper.

"And finally, you know what else?" he said while untangling our hands and wrapping them around my waist. "I am very much in love with you."

I had no idea what to say. I was suddenly overwhelmed with joy and happiness that I just wanted to scream. But he started to lean down so I figured that it wasn't a very good time to do so. Just as our lips were about to touch, he pulled back just a bit. "One more thing: I have something to give you, so remind me about it later." I nodded.

And then he kissed me.


	24. Finally Life Is Better

**final chapter ! **

* * *

This was all new to me: walking around, hand in hand with the most amazing guy ever. Especially considering how my life has played out these past few years.

I was going to ask Artemis if I could get back into the Hunters, but I don't really want to anymore. I came to the conclusion that boys are just too much fun to give up again.

Raymond and I have only been going out for two weeks now, but they've been amazing. The rest of the campers had gone home after they recovered from their hangovers to finish out the rest of the school year. But Raymond, like me, is a year-rounder. So we've gotten a lot of privacy, which I like.

Aphrodite totally approved of my choice, obviously. The rest of the gods (apart from Artemis) seem to think that my life is the new thing to listen to now that the "Percabeth" has gotten boring according to Apollo.

"Nothing ever happens with them anymore," Apollo claimed once when I was talking to him. "Us gods like something fresh every now and then." Then he winked which made me blush.

Aubrey left after the party as well, but she promised that she'd visit more often than every nine years. The rest of the Hunters were still kind of pissed at me, but Lilly grabbed the chance to say goodbye. She wished me the best of luck with Raymond and said that she quit the Hunters as well.

"Wait, _what?_" I said when she told me.

She nodded with a big smiled on her face. "Yeah!"

"_Why?_" I said, still in shock.

Lilly put her hands on my shoulders. "Kasey, think about it. Why can't I remember who my godly parent is?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Exactly. Neither do I. But _that's _what I want to find out."

"What are you even going to do?"

"I have no idea. But I can't be in the Hunters _and_ find out. This'll be so much fun! It'll be like my own self-made quest!"

I laughed. "Well, for your sake, I hope you made the right choice."

"Me too."

We smiled at each other and she chocked me with a hug before disappearing over the hill.

I was so concentrated on my thoughts that I just about tripped over the steps to my cabin. Luckily Raymond caught me. He chuckled.

"Don't laugh at me!" I said while I playfully hit him.

The lunch bell chimed and he looked back at me. "Ready?"

"Just a second," I said. "I need to change my shirt from the juice that you 'accidentally' spilt on me." I smirked.

"It was an accident!" he claimed. "And I said I was sorry."

I stepped towards him. "I know you did." Then I grabbed his shirt and placed a short but passionate kiss on his lips. His arms started to hug my waist but I pulled away and ran up the stairs of my cabin. "I'll meet you there."

"Tease," I heard him mutter. I turned around and winked.

My cabin was newly painted inside because of my mom's new obsession with purple. So everything was pushed into the middle so the walls could dry. I climbed over all the beds and slipped into my closet. I grabbed my Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and threw on my Converse. As I was climbing back over the bed to go to lunch, I noticed my ornament still hanging on my mirror. It's what Raymond was talking about when he said he had something to give to me right before he kissed me.

After I got my head finally on straight after about ten minutes of us making out, I reminded him that he had something for me.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "Here, I'll go grab it." He ran back to the Hephaestus (who he was claimed by a few years ago) cabin and was back within two minutes.

"I found this just before you left," he said. Then he brought something out from behind his back. "I tried giving it to you but…you left."

In his hand was a gold sphere ornament made out of glass. It had gorgeous glitter designs all over it and I'm pretty sure the jewels were real diamonds. On the front in perfect calligraphy was the name _Kasey Gray. _

I gasped. "Oh my gods," I said. "How did you find it?"

"It was hanging right on the window—in plain sight," he said. "I found out that the reason that you couldn't see it was because it was enchanted."

"Enchanted?"

"Yeah, you couldn't see its beauty until you could see beauty in yourself. Kind of cheesy, but apparently effective."

"I'm guessing that my mom made it for me," I grumbled.

"Yeah, I'd put money on that," Raymond said smiling. I giggled.

I smile at the ornament and continued climbing over the rest of the beds.

"Kasey," I heard someone say behind me once I got to Mess Hall. I turned around and saw Chiron still in his battle gear and a bow slung over his back. "How've you been?"

"Better," I said. Chiron's been overly concerned about me even since he heard about the whole Tyler thing. Every day he asks me how I am like he's expecting me to say that something like that happened again. But I'm pretty sure it won't.

When the rest of the camp heard about what Tyler had done, or _tried _to do, he was sent to Olympus to be punished by his mom. Now that might not sound too bad, but when your mom is Nemesis, minor goddess of vengeance, well, I could imagine it wasn't a very pretty sight. He wasn't allowed to come back to camp after that. Instead, he now trains with the gods who don't go easy on him. Serves him right.

"That's good to hear," Chiron said, smiling.

I nodded and went to grab my lunch. Looking around Mess Hall, I realized how many campers decided to be year-rounders within these past few years. There were at least three at every table, including the minor gods' tables.

Sense it was lunch, we could sit wherever we wanted, so I took a seat next to Raymond.

"Hey," he said as I sat down.

"Hey," I replied.

Then he put his arm around me and proceeded to try and eat his lunch with one hand. I giggled.

"What?" he asked.

I shook my head. "You're so pathetic."

He leaned back in a fake-offended way. "That hurts."

I giggled again and wrapped my arms around his neck. He wrapped his around my waist. "But you love me anyways," I stated.

He smirked. "Hell yes I do."

And then, just like the cheesy soap opera life that I've been living, he kissed me.

* * *

**And they all live happily ever after!  
Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited & alerted Hunters' Rules (:  
Final thoughts? review for the last time (: **

**love you all babes ! -kenna(:**

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